


Ink to Paper to Book to Life

by KyaFalcone



Series: Read, Know, Learn, Go [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Because of Reasons, Books, But she's a good friend all the same, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto) Feels, Female Friendship, For Want of a Nail, Gen, Haruno Sakura-centric, I got annoyed with beginning Naruto, I have spent way too much time thinking about this, I swear I've been working on other things, Ino is so done, Konoha Civilians are Dicks, Male-Female Friendship, Naruto Logic meets My Logic, Naruto has the Best Friends, Parents actually take an interest in their kids, Realistic - ish, Sakura is not amused, Sarutobi Hiruzen does miss things, Sasuke is not a little ball of rage/angst, Shika's still lazy, Shikamaru is not as lazy as canon, Touches Uchiha Massacre, but his crystal ball is a hack, he's still learning just like everyone else, just not as much, more tags to come, that had to be put in since the first time parents are seen is Konoha Crush Arc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2018-09-27 13:42:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10023194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyaFalcone/pseuds/KyaFalcone
Summary: They call Haruno Sakura a “paper ninja” due to her test scores.  Presumably due to her being a bookworm.  But we don't really see a lot of that part of her before Naruto leaves.  What if this was a more pivotal point in her personality?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so the reason this is happening is part my love for Want of a Nail _Naruto_ fics and part me constantly going “what the hell is Sakura doing?” through my rewatches of the show. Sakura is stated as a paper ninja during the Chunin Exam arc. She straight up completes the test without any help and is then used by Ino to get the test answers. She's at least as good as Tsunade in medical jutsu by Shippuden. Good enough to figure out a antidote of Sasori's poison which was killing Kankuro. One of these things is not like the other.
> 
> So I thought about her past a bit and her actions. I was bullied as a kid for being a bookworm and I used to worry constantly about my first friend (who like Ino was much more popular than I was) deciding she hated me. I've done the “we like the same guy” thing too (we were older and probably more mature than Ino and Sakura when their thing happened but I digress). Instead of saying anything, I buried my feelings so I wouldn't loose my friend (admittedly she figured out pretty easily I liked the same guy, but we didn't start a blood feud over it). Therefore Sakura's actions do not make sense to me. 
> 
> So I'm writing the AU where Sakura is more like the bookworms I have experience with. IE the one where Sakura reads _everything_ and doesn't stop being friends with Ino because of a boy.

**Prologue**

The little pink haired girl hummed to herself as she walked the aisles of the library. She had finally, _finally_ convinced her parents to send her to the Ninja Academy. It had taken a good long while, but she had done it. She would be enrolled with others her age come spring. Her happiness made it a bit easier to handle her current classmates who treated her poorly. Their teases varied, though stayed in the same areas. Her hair, her reading, her forehead, her quietness.

But she would be a shinobi! Well, in training. But still shinobi! Those who were the definition of quiet and sneaky and smart. Her hair color would probably give way to some teasing there too, but it would be better. She could probably even make friends!

The five-almost-six year old skipped a little at the thought of friends. That would really be nice.

And once she was a student of the Academy, more of the libraries books would be open to her!

She would probably never understand why the library was sectioned the way it was. Civilian books on the main floor, Academy and Genin books on the second, Chunin on the third, and Jounin supposedly hidden on the basement floor. It was what had caused her to want to go to the Academy at the beginning. She had read almost all the books she could on the ground floor. There were some she hadn't read as they didn't seem interesting.

Once she was enrolled, she would be able to read some of the books on the second floor! These ones geared towards the students too! There wasn't much on shinobi on the ground floor. There were storybooks. She had read those already, though. Most of them seemed silly actually. Didn't seem anything like what Tou-san made it sound like. And the kunoichi in those stories didn't act anything like her Oba-san did.

But! There were probably still books in the history section that would be good background for the Academy. They would want the civilian-born trainees to learn _some_ basic information, right? The only problem, the history section was full of both books and scrolls. Which made it hard to know what you were looking at before you read it. Which was why the pinkette usually ignored that area. But she would not give up! She would find something that would be useful. She still had the whole of winter and the last bit of fall to look.

It took her about an hour to find an interesting book in the history section. Clans of the Elemental Nations Vol. 3. The print date showed it was from before the Third Shinobi War, thirty-five years after the Founding, but she wasn't able to find any newer version. It was probably in one of the other sections. Or it could just be hiding somewhere in the history section.

Taking her new discovery to a nearby table, Sakura began to read about the clans of her homeland. It was relatively easy since the book separated the clans by the Country they were from. Hi no Kuni had the largest section of the book, which the young girl figured meant the book was made in her home of Fire Country. Which made sense since she lived in Hi no Kuni and books printed in the country were easier to find than books printed in other countries. Since ninja were sneaky.

So Sakura read through the book. She read about the Aburame clan and their insect-based bloodline, the Akamichi and their body-based jutsu, the Hatake and their samurai past, the Hyuga and their all seeing eyes, the Inuzuka and their ninkin, the Kurama clan, the Nara clan, the Senju and Sarutobi clans, the Uchiha clan, the Uzumaki clan, and the Yamanaka clan. Once she felt she knew the basics of the clans of Hi no Kuni, she moved on to the other countries.

There wasn't much on the other countries though. A lot of the information was based on the previous Wars. Sakura wasn't sure what that meant, but it seemed like an important bit to remember as she read. Tou-san always said every little bit of information helped, even if you didn't realize how at the time. And anyway, they were in year fifty-three of Konoha's existence. There were probably changes in the clans since the book was published. She would have to find the next edition to compare.

Checking the time, Sakura winced and went to check out her new book. She would be on time for dinner if she ran. Maybe. Hopefully Kaa-san wasn't too mad at her.

 

* * *

  

Sakura sniffled as she hid in the bushes during the lunch period. She had hoped to get away from most of the bullies by being a ninja, but they were _everywhere_.

The start of her shinobi career had been good. She had realized early on that a lot of her classmates were from Konoha's major clans and that knowing what she did about their clans made it easier to not annoy them. She wasn't loud like the other civilian girls were, which explained why Aburame Shino took to sitting next to her; Inuzuka Kiba just yelled at them to shut up. She didn't poke Nara Shikamaru to wake up or tease Akimichi Chouji about his eating or any of the other things civilian-born trainees did. She did all the homework and read all the things the sensei told them too; unlike a lot of the other civilian-born students who didn't do much of either.

It was when they started the physical bits later the first week, after they learned about all the other classes, that made things change. There were more classes of their age that had all gotten together for their first taijutsu lesson. Some of the girls in another class decided to be mean. Because Sakura had pink hair, her forehead was big, was quiet, read a lot, always had a different book with her things. Eventually the girls in the other class got some of the girls in _her_ class involved which just made things so much worse.

It didn't help that their lunch period was right after their taijutsu class. She never really got a chance to runaway from them. Not unless she was able to hide while they gathered their lunches. Which led to her hiding in the bushes. Usually they gave up on finding her and went to eat their lunches near the door.

Sniffling again, she peeked through the leaves to see if they had given up on finding her yet. It was now several weeks into their first year and she was beginning to get pretty good at hiding. If they were done looking, she might be able to snatch her lunch and eat a bit.

“What're you hiding for?” someone asked. Sakura squeaked and turned to the person to see Yamanaka Ino from her class crouching next to her. “Well?”

“Um, they uh,” she couldn't find words. How was she to explain to this girl, who was the most popular in their class, about her being bullied.

“Hmm, I can see why they call it big,” the blonde girl poked her forehead, “but that's no reason to hide. Come on, you can eat lunch with me.”

Sakura wasn't sure why this popular girl was talking to her, or why Yamanaka took an interest in her at all. But she wasn't going to put a stop to it. As Yamanaka pulled her towards where Nara and Akimichi were seated, the pinkette looked over to see the shocked faces of her tormentors.

“Wha'd you do this time, Ino-chan?” Nara asked dryly, though his eyes were closed.

“I brought a new friend,” Yamanaka stated as she pushed Sakura down next to Akimichi. The blond boy handed over her bento too. “Why'd you think I grabbed her lunch?”

“Because you're troublesome.”

“Hi, I'm Akimichi Chouji,” the blond boy smiled as the other two kept talking. “You're Haruno Sakura, right?”

“Hai. It's nice to meet you, Akimichi-kun,” she smiled shyly.

“Don't worry about those girls. I think Ino-chan's close to asking them for a spar. And you can call me Chouji if you want.”

“Are you gonna eat?” Nara asked sharply, causing Sakura to look at him. He had opened his eyes and was looking at her now. “I mean, usually you sneak some of your lunch during breaks, but you _can_ eat now if you'd rather.”

Yamanaka huffed. “What he means is, you're eating lunch with us from now on. So eat. If you need anymore, I'm sure Chouji-kun will share some of his snacks.”

“Um, why are you...” She paused, unsure of how to ask. She didn't want them to change their minds.

Yamanaka rolled her eyes. “Those girls think they're the best in the school because they're the best in their class, which is stupid because there are clan kids in other classes. I got tired of it. And watching you sneak food during breaks was annoying.”

Sakura blinked. Chouji leaned over. “That's Ino-speak for 'she hates bullies.'” The civilian-raised girl burst into laughter. Leaning over her bento as tears ran down her face. She missed the pleased looks the trio of clan-raised kids gave each other.

“So, Sakura-chan, can I call you Sakura-chan?” Yamanaka started. She kept going before the other girl could answer though. “You can call me Ino-chan, that way it's even. You seem to have your head on straight, not like some others in our class. And you haven't missed any assignments from what I know, which puts you ahead of most of our yearmates, I think. I heard one of the sensei say you had one of the better vocabularies on the homework last week. Which is impressive since I'm pretty sure there aren't a whole lot of words you can use for describing Hi no Kuni. And most everyone probably did a list, and I heard Itai-sensei say yours was in 'essay format.'

“I know _I_ only did a list of things. And so did Chouji-kun. Shika-kun didn't actually do the homework, but he's lazy.”

“It's too much work,” Nara interrupted. Opening one eye, he looked at Sakura who paused in bringing another bite of rice to her mouth. “Shikamaru or Shika if I can call you Sakura.”

Blinking, she realized that though it sounded like a statement, he wanted a response. Since he was still watching her she smiled and nodded.

“I don't know how much you know about the clans, since you're a civvie,” Ino started.

“I know a bit,” the pinkette offered.

“Yeah?”

“Mhmm. I like reading,” she ducked closer to her lunch.

“Huh. So what kinds of things do you know?”

Sakura blinked up at the trio. “The Akimichi, Nara, and Yamanaka clans have been allies since before the Founding. You're all heirs of your clans.” She stopped.

Would it be weird if she said she knew more? Would they stop being nice if she kept going? She had learned a bit from the interactions between her classmates and had been paying more attention to her Tou-san's comments about work. She had even got her Oba-san to answer some of her questions.

“You know more,” Shikamaru interrupted her thoughts. Looking at him showed he was back to not looking at them.

“Yeah,” she drew out the word, uncertain about what he wanted her to say.

“He's testing you,” Ino answered her unspoken question with a hair flip. “He wants to know how much you've learned since school started.”

“I didn't learn that from school,” Sakura answered. “Well, not the bit about your clans being allies. I knew that before school started.” Ino and Chouji looked at her expectantly. She sighed before continuing her sorta-report. “Akimichi brought a ton of merchant contracts to the Village that is one of the reasons Hi no Kuni has such a huge market. The Naras brought their deer herds and the tactics they were known for during the Warring States Era. Yamanaka brought their knowledge of the human mind and plants and how to make poisons and medicines from those plants. Um...”

“The other clans in our class?” Chouji asked.

“Well, the Aburame have their bloodline and their knowledge of farming and their trade contracts, since Aburame have the best honey according to Kaa-san. Inuzuka's brought their understanding of animals and their ninkin. Uchiha, their bloodline and genjutsu and when they joined it ended most of the rivalry between them and the Senju clan. Hyuga, _their_ bloodline and knowledge of taijutsu styles. Uh.” She counted the clan members of their class on her fingers. That was eight clans. “Oh! The Uzumaki, though mostly gone now, brought their knowledge of sealing and it kept the alliance between Hi and Uzu strong.” She hadn't been able to get the next edition of the Clans book, but her Oba-san had filled in some of the missing pieces.

Shikamaru was looking at her now. It made her shift a little uncomfortable with the attention. Instead of saying anything, he just nodded and went back to ignoring them.

“Huh, didn't know Uzumaki was a clan,” Ino commented. “Why's Uzumaki-san so _bad_ then?”

“Sakura-chan, you said 'mostly gone' right?” Chouji asked.

“Mhmm,” she nodded, happy they were still talking to her after her load of information. She gathered up all the bits her aunt had given her and the little things she had read or noticed to continue. “The Uzumaki clan was originally from Uzu no Kuni, but they had a really close relationship with the Senju during the Warring States, including marriages between the clans. The Shodaime even married an Uzumaki Hime. Uzushio, the village the Uzumaki founded, was on an island off the coast of Hi no Kuni. It was one of the more peaceful villages, but it was destroyed... Mmm, Oba-san said it was before the Third War. There were a few refugees that made their way to Konoha. I think Uzumaki-san is the last of them actually. I haven't heard of any others in the village.”

“Uzumaki's an orphan,” Shikamaru offered.

“Huh,” Ino huffed. “What's that thing your kaa-san says, Shika? Something new...”

“'You learn something new every day,'” he answered.

“Yeah, that. 'Learn something new every day.' So, your forehead is big because it's full of stuff. That's good to know,” Ino smiled at Sakura. “When they post our basic grade levels at the beginning of summer, we can use that as proof. No way you're going to be lower than those annoyances.”

Sakura giggled as Ino started making plans to shove Sakura's grades in her bullies' faces when the time came. Chouji offered some ideas while Shikamaru just napped. It was the beginning of something completely new for Sakura. She had friends.

 


	2. Making Connections and Sticking Together

### /0\

Sakura takes to spending a lot of her free time with Ino and the boys. She still sits next to Aburame during class, but she spends _a lot_ of time with her new friends. She also learns things that her books couldn't tell her. Things about her individual friends specifically.

Ino is complicated (or as Shika says 'troublesome'). She loves spending time just relaxing and doing hair or nails or anything that isn't technically training. Her blonde friend also hates being called a 'kunoichi'-in-training due to the adventure books that portray kunoichi as damsels. But she's also the best at their kunoichi lessons and one of the best in the practical lessons. She's planning on being  _the_ best of their year. No gender lines. And Ino knows most of what goes on through their year group, from gossip to who's failing what to who's mad at who. And she uses that information like it's currency. When Sakura finally asks why, Ino explained how the  _information_ side of the ninja arts works. The slightly younger girl takes to paying more attention to her friend's gossip after that.

Shikamaru is smart. Sakura knew that in a vague way before becoming friends with the Nara heir. Now, it's something she knows like how the sky is blue and the grass is green and her hair is pink. Shikamaru is so smart that he gets bored easily. Like most of the time the sensei tell them something 'new'. It's why he sleeps and watches clouds all the time. But he doesn't actually sleep because when lunch rolls around he somehow knows  _exactly_ what happened during the lessons. He knows who answered what and even who passed notes around. Or maybe he sleeps and still gets all that information. Either way, she has yet to find something Shikamaru doesn't know about their classes.

Chouji is kind. He dislikes violence and doesn't actually put a whole lot of effort into their practical lessons. But Chouji is also  _really_ protective of his friends. Sakura learns that fact when one of her old civilian school bullies comes at her while they walked to the Nara compound. Chouji may not like violence, but he knows  _how_ to be violent. He's also the one of their class that everyone knows will share if you forgot your lunch. His tests are average but if you give him the question verbally and let him answer out loud, his answers rival hers and Shikamaru's and Ino's. Chouji also knows what it's like to be teased about something he can't help. Which makes him the one Sakura gravitates to when she feels like she doesn't belong with her friends.

She's sure her friends have learned just as much about her as she has them. Probably more where Shika's concerned. But even though she grew up a “civie,” her friends help her catch up. Chouji knows the taijutsu katas inside and out, even though they hadn't started covering them yet. But he helps her get them down so she's closer in skill to her friends. Ino teaches her the bits that don't make sense at first. Like why they learn about flowers and why certain things aren't taught in their classes but expected of them to learn, like how to properly care for weapons. Not handle, care. There is apparently a difference Sakura knew nothing about at first. Shika makes her  _think_ . Not just spout the facts she knows and the things the sensei say, but think about what it all means. They often play a game where they look through historical texts and try to figure out causes and effects.

It's the first time she's had friends to do these things with, but it doesn't feel  _hard_ . It's... actually pretty easy. Though Sakura still gets shy around her friend's parents. But with her friends, she's comfortable and it's easy and wonderful.

Most of the time at least.

“He's just so cool!”

This is not one of those times.

“Didja see him when he went up against Inuzuka?”

Sakura could feel Shikamaru rolling his eyes. “I saw, Ino-chan,” the pinkette responds. Which just has Ino start to recount the taijutsu spar. Again. For probably the fifth time.

“Think she'd notice if we bolted?” Shika mutters beside her, his face turned towards Chouji.

Sakura flicks his ear. “You are  _not_ leaving me alone with her,” she hisses back.

Chouji laughs at them. Well at least one of them is enjoying themselves.

“Ugh!” Ino grunts as she lets herself lay on the grass of the Nara compound. “Isn't he the _best_ , 'Kura?” The nickname is sorta new. Ino has only been using it for a week or so.

“I guess,” Sakura answers honestly. She could see what Ino liked about Uchiha Sasuke. She really could. He was a good shinobi(in-training).

“You guess?” Ino looks like she's about to start explaining all his good points again, in alphabetical order this time.

“He's cute and good. I just don't think he's my type, I guess.” She wacks Shika when he gives her the stink-eye. Yes, Uchiha Sasuke was good and all that, but she didn't like _him._ She liked _Ino_. Which wasn't really helpful. But Ino is her friend. Her _best_ friend. Her _first_ friend. Sakura did _not_ want to loose that. So, she ignored the little pain she got from this topic and acted like it didn't matter. Because it didn't.

Ino rolls over and looks at her with a piercing gaze. Sakura pointedly does not stop breathing.

“That makes sense,” Ino says finally. “Who do you think would be your type?”

“Of our class?”

“Yeah. Or our year. Either way.”

She stops to think about it. Taking Ino out of the year group, who would she like? Not including Sasuke since he's how this started. Who would her crush be on?

“Aburame Shino, probably,” she answers.

“Aburame?” Chouji asks in disbelief.

Sakura shrugs. “I guess. I haven't really thought about it to be honest.” Because she didn't want to loose her  _first, best_ friend. So no, she hadn't thought about it. And honestly, the pinkette had been focused on catching up to her friends for the past few months. Even if Ino had been right when their Spring grades were posted and she was just a few below the mass of clan-raised trainees.

“Aburame has those bugs right?” Ino asks.

“Which help pollinate your family's flora, yeah,” she says before Ino can say anything else.

Because she knows Ino. Knows Ino still thinks bugs are gross. Sakura did too for a while. Then she had read a scroll about how insects helped keep the flowers from dying out and keeping a lot of the more annoying insects away from plants. Sakura  _knows_ Ino had read the same scroll. It had been one in the blonde's room after all.

“Yeah. I can see Aburame and you, 'Kura. He's quiet and does all his work and answers correctly every time the sensei call on him. Sounds like your type.” Sakura focuses on _not_ rolling her eyes at her friend. Yes, because her friend knew everything. “Hey! Did you know Hyuga Hinata has a crush on Uzumaki?”

“Then why does she run away from him?” Chouji asks, which sets Ino on the topic of how girls show boys they like them. Sakura gives the conversation part of her attention, the other part is spent glaring at Shika, who is staring at her.

### /1\

Sakura ends up being very happy she didn't tell Ino about her own crush within the next month. She also learns that girls can be as weird as boys. The pink haired six year old will never understand why her fellow trainees feel that gushing and crowding a person is a good way to show affection. She  _is_ thankful that Hyuga Hinata has a different person as her crush.

During the warm up laps, Sakura takes to running beside the only other girl not hovering around the Uchiha Clanhead's second son. Ino was running as close to her crush as she could get while the boys weren't really putting forth any effort for their laps.

“Hyuga-san, would you mind being my course partner today?” she asks, halfway through their last lap. The obstacle course the students went through was _supposed_ to teach them how to avoid traps. No one in their year had made it through without tripping one though. It didn't help that the sensei changed the course a couple times a week.

“Um, s-sure, Haruno-san.”

The pinkette beams at her new (possibly) friend. While she was sure Ino would still beat her time at the course, Sakura really didn't want to have to listen to her friend gush about Uchiha-kun while they waited their turn. Besides, Kaa-san had told her she should try to make  _more_ friends.

Making friends with Hinata was not as hard as she had thought. The young Hyuga was shy and lacked confidence, but that wasn't hard to get around. Ino had done it with her after all. But Shika and Chou were a lot more help than Ino was with getting Hinata settled. The boys were able to cover for Ino's word problems, like Chouji did when they had first all become friends. Because though she loved Ino deeply, Sakura could admit that Ino sometimes stuck her foot in her mouth without realizing.

“Why Uzumaki?” Ino asks while the three girls catch their breath from the “spar” they had. It had become something of routine now for the three of them to train together. Most of the other girls in their class weren't focusing on training at all.

Sakura moves to stop her friend, but Hinata actually answers.

“He doesn't give up,” the quiet girl states, not looking at either of them. “He's told he won't do good and he just _ignores them_. And keeps trying.” After a long pause, which Sakura and Ino used to adjust their knowledge of their friend accordingly, Hinata speaks up again. “I want to be that brave. To stand up for myself and not listen to others.”

“No offense, Hina,” Ino says, “but your clan is stupid. You don't _like_ fighting, but that doesn't mean you're bad at it. You can take me and 'Kura when we tag team you, and _win_.”

Wide lavender eyes stare at the other female trainees. Sakura nods in agreement with her best friend.

“I wonder what your clan would think if they saw our spars. I may be civilian by birth, but we have numbers on you and you whoop us.”

“Think we could get a Hyuga training field for the next one?” Ino asks cheekily.

### /2\

With her success making friends on her own, Sakura began reaching out to others. Never those who had teased her or her friends, but she reached out nonetheless. First with Aburame-kun.

“Aburame-san,” she spoke up before class began. “Do you know anything about Kaze no Kuni? About the animals?”

It was a simple question. They had begun learning about Konoha's allies in class and she was curious about the differences. She wanted to shove the words back in her mouth when the taller boy looked at her. Or at least she thought he looked at her. His glasses made it hard to tell.

“I do not know the specifics of most animals. Why? Because my clan deals primarily with insects.” She nodded in understanding. “Beetles are common desert insects. As are arachnids. Why? It is easier for small animals to survive in the desert than larger animals that need more food and water. There are specific adaptions that appear in desert insects.” Aburame went on to list the different ways insects and arachnids survived the desert.

Sakura was quite interested and asked several questions about other climates and weather types he knew about. By the time the teacher had arrived they were in a discussion about how the different insects helped plants of different locations. Their teacher was rather upset when they didn't immediately turn their attention to him.

Sakura started asking more questions during the time before class. They ranged from insects, which she figured was a safe topic, to chakra differences, something they apparently wouldn't get into until Year Five, to eventually books they thought the other would like. Sometimes if they were really into a topic when class started, Aburame-kun would join her and her friends for lunch. This usually had Shika joining once he heard the topic (or he just ignored them completely and napped).

Ino had a little trouble with Aburame-kun, but the blonde never said anything to him. Well, Ino did ask about the beetles rumored to live within the clan but nothing mean was said. Hinata ended up eatin lunch with them and Aburame-kun didn't seem to mind her questions on butterflies, dragonflies, and other 'graceful' insects.

By the end of Year One, Sakura had a group of friends and a group of 'contacts' among her yearmates. She was able to do fifteen warm-up laps, could get through half of the obstacle course before tripping a trap, knew more about flowers and plants than most of the other kunoichi-in-training, could do all the jutsu hand seals in under five minutes, and had even unlocked her chakra coils with Shika's help. She could also beat Ino in a spar a third of the time.

### /3\

Sakura sat at the top of the stairs, listening to her parents discuss recent events. Tou-san probably knew she was there, so she wasn't worried about being caught and getting in trouble. They were talking about her classmate after all.

Uchiha Sasuke. Her first crush's first crush.

Even if she had gotten over her crush on Ino, he was stuck as that in her mind.

He had been missing from class the last two days and no one knew what was going on.

Though that wasn't true. Ino had heard that there had been something that happened at the Uchiha Compound. There were whispers that everyone was dead too. None of the sensei would tell them if Sasuke was alive or gone. So, Sakura had taken steps to learn what she could from her parents. Most of her group of friends were doing the same with theirs. Once she caught the gist of what happened, Sakura went to her room.

Massacre. Almost all of the Uchiha were massacred. By the clan's prodigy Itachi Uchiha. Sasuke was the only survivor. No one was expecting him to return to school until start of next week. Three days away.

Grabbing her shogi box, Sakura made her way downstairs, making sure to make plenty of noise. She had to talk to her friends.

“Kaa-san, Tou-san, I'm going to see Shika-kun, okay?”

“Alright, sweetie,” her mother answered. “Just let us know if you plan to stay late.”

“'Kay!”

There weren't a lot of days left for much planning, so she was headed for the one of her friends that could help the most. Shika would have some ideas at how to make her idea work. Ino and Chouji were at the Nara compound too since there was a clan party thing, but none of their clans would tell Sakura to leave. She had become a well known person to the trio of clans in the past year. And Shikaku-sama, Inoichi-sama, and Choza-sama all told her she was welcome at any time.

Weaving through the mass of shinobi and civilians of the clans was easy by now. The pinkette had been to enough of these get-togethers to know how to move and where to look. Spying the triad of clan heads, Sakura waved big to say hi without a detour. Choza-sama waved back, so she was good. Now, to find her friends.

Which wasn't all that hard, seeing as how Shika pretty much claimed his cloud watching spot early into his life. None of her friends looked like they were having a good time, nor did they look shocked she was early.

“So, you heard?” Ino asks softly.

“Mhmm. Tou-san said he probably won't be in class until next week,” she answered, setting up her shogi board as a distraction.

Shika sits up to set his pieces up. “Plan?”

She smiles. Her friends know her really well. “I think we should form a blockade.”

“Huh?”

Looking at Chouji, she explains. “Usually, there's a big deal over who sits nearest to Uchiha-kun. We need to make it so _none_ of them sit near him. Well, not including Ino. No offense.”

“No, I get it. I'm known to like him. Being part of the block would just aggravate the other girls. Who all do you plan on asking?”

“Well, you guys, Hinata, and Shino-kun. Maybe Kiba-san and Uzumaki-san.”

“Could make it look like the clans are trying to stand by Uchiha,” Shika offers. “If anyone asks why we sit where we do, we just tell them our parents told us to. Sakura, you'll have to be somewhere between us three but other than that, it should work. Don't know how that'd work with Uzumaki though.”

“It's a big deal,” Ino murmurs. “He's just lost his whole family. Otou-san was talking about how he probably didn't have any support outside the clan. He said he was hoping Sasuke-kun wouldn't ignore everyone and maybe talk about what happened.”

“We shouldn't make him talk,” Chouji interrupts. “He's prob'ly had everyone telling him to talk. We should let him be, but make sure he knows we'll help and listen.”

“If we sit all the guys around him, it would give less for his fangirls to be mad about,” Shika starts their fake game at that point, giving them a cover even though they probably don't need it. “Everyone knows we're all friends and that you two are friends with Hinata-chan. So you being close won't be a problem.”

“Yeah, but Uchiha-san sits in the middle, doesn't he?”

“Chouji's right. It'd be hard to get everyone around that way,” Ino agrees.

“Shika and Shino-kun flank him. Chou behind Shika. If we get Kiba-san and Uzumaki-san they would share that desk. Us girls behind them. If no Kiba-san or Uzumaki-san, then Hina and I could share with Chou with Ino behind or on the other side of me. Or something like that.”

“Quietest of us closest to him with the loud ones nearby to help block conversation,” Shika nods. “Should work. Better if we get Inuzuka and Uzumaki to help.”

“Kiba has a crush on Hinata,” Ino offers.

“No using crushes to man-nip-yole-late people, Ino.” Sakura stares at her friend until the blonde nods in agreement.

It took almost up to the last minute to get their block set up. Convincing Kiba-san, who didn't really like Shino-kun, was hard especially since the two would be close together. Once Shino-kun knew their reasons, and had been updated with the information they had, he agreed to help and also set up some insect sentries to keep an eye out for Uchiha. Uzumaki was hard to convince too. Something about jerks and bastards. Chouji eventually told Uzumaki he would bring him lunch for everyday he helped if he agreed. Hinata agreed without any trouble. She had apparently already heard about the 'Massacre' from some Branch members of her clan.

They even figured a signal to let everyone know to go to class early. Shino had convinced one of his cousins to send butterflies to everyone. The butterfly would come in and land on their nose. Sakura suspected that the clan-raised kids told their parents the plan. It would allow for a better cover if the adults knew.

So when Sakura woke up with a bright blue butterfly on her nose, she knew what to do. Her Kaa-san was a little surprised at her rush that morning, but her Tou-san didn't seem surprised. She suspected Shikaku-sama or Inoichi-sama told him. When she got to Ino's, her friend was already waiting for her.

One thing Shika made sure of was that they didn't change their pattern too much. She and Ino would still walk together and meet up with Shika and Chou. Hina would walk with her guard the whole way, with Shino possibly walking half the walk with her. Uzumaki said he would set up a small prank early so he had a reason to be there. And Kiba had gotten his sister to take him to school that day, since she would then have to rush to open the Inuzuka Vet Clinic on time.

When Sakura's little group got to school, Ino pulled her over to look at the new blooms around the fence. Something they did often enough when Hina didn't beat them. Kiba soon zoomed past them, and would then go find Uzumaki to get him to class. By the time Shino and Hinata arrived, Ino and Sakura had spotted Uchiha being escorted inside. Where Chou and Shika would already be in their seats. Kiba and Uzumaki possibly as well. Shino walked with them and when they got inside, Ino dragged Hina and Sakura to the seat behind Chou, Kiba and Uzumaki.

Uchiha was understandably confused and suspicious of their group.

Before anyone else showed up, Shika leaned over and told Uchiha what they were doing. Leaving whether or not it was our idea or the parents' out of his explanation. Uchiha looked stunned afterwards and stared at the lot of them. Sakura made sure to smile at him.

 


	3. People's Problems and Fixing It

**/4\**

“Naruto, did you even _do_ the reading?” the Yamanaka heir huffed.  Her fellow blond stuck his tongue out at her as the group finished their lunch.  Ino rolled her eyes at him.  “You do know that most of the beginning years of the academy are based on theory right? You don't do them, you won't go higher than Chūnin at best.”

“Wha'd ya talkin bout, Ino?”

Ino sighed as if it pained her to explain everything to Naruto.  “You keep saying you're gonna be Hokage. Hokage is the best of all the village. Number one person you do not want to fight, S-Rank or higher. Genin are the most numerous rank, but they rarely see missions better than C-Rank. Chūnin are next and mostly considered for B-Rank missions and the occasional A-Rank depending. Jōnin have the fewest numbers but they go on A-Rank missions regularly, with an S-Rank for the _very_ good. They're also tasked with helping the jōnin-track genin become jōnin. The Hokage has to be the strongest of the village, have a good head for politics, know tons of jutsu, _and_ keep the village running without any major issues that hurt the people.

“For you to become Hokage, you need to get to jōnin. To do that you need to get to chūnin. To do  _that_ you need to prove that you can be a squad leader and work in most team environments. The easiest way to get jōnin-track is to prove you know this stuff _now_ so that a jōnin doesn't have to teach it to you later. Do the reading _now_ , when you have the time and you won't have to play catch up later to get the hat. Which would be so much harder without a jōnin to help you get into the Chūnin Exams or get a field promotion by mission records.”

Their little group had stopped their conversations to listen to Ino and Naruto's.  The blond orphan looked around to see nods of agreement from the clan-raised kids.  Sakura, the only civilian-born/raised shrugged when he looked at her.

“Why don't you do the reading?” Chouji asked.

Naruto's face twisted into something that made him look like he was sucking on a lemon.  “The lady at the li'rary doesn't let me in 'n' the books'ores won't let me in neither.”

“What?” Sakura blinked.  The library was her favorite place.  It was open to the public.  There were sections you had to prove you had access for but it was _public._   Naruto not being able to get in would mean he didn't have _any_ of the resources she did.

“Is this like how Mizuki-sensei keeps making your katas wrong?” Sasuke asked.

“Hold up,” Ino held both hands up to emphasize her words.  “Are you saying that Naruto has been _taught_ wrong by the teachers?”

The “Uchiha Survivor” nodded.  “I saw it yesterday. Mizuki made it so Naruto's stance was too small and his hands too high.”

“Why would he _do that_?” Ino nearly screeched.

“Not a lotta peoples like me,” Naruto shrugged.

“Why?” Kiba asked.  “I mean, you play pranks but so do I and I can go to the library. Not that I _want_ to.”

Naruto just shrugged.  “I dunno. They just do.”

“Do you have any of the books for classes?” Shika joined the conversation.  Naruto shook his head.  “Right. You're coming home with one of us tonight and borrowing them. Any questions you ask, okay?”

“But-”

“I'm not gonna have my _Hokage_ not know this stuff.”  Shika stared the orphan down until Naruto nodded.

“Did you have any questions on today's lessons?” Sakura asked, pulling her bag closer and digging for a book.  She had two copies of the Shinobi Handbook so she would give one to her new friend.

She wasn't sure _when_ their little project to keep Sasuke from having to talk went and made them all friends.  The eight year old wasn't even sure she cared when it had happened.  They weren't all the best of friends.  But they were friends.

Sakura knew that Shino loved sweets while Sasuke hated them.  Kiba was loud because his family was loud and if he wanted to be heard he had to be loud _er_.  Sasuke would always smile when given a cherry tomato, though if you said anything he'd deny it.  Hina could rarely get a sentence out when around Naruto, but Ino was working on that.  Naruto learned best when you explain things instead of talk _at_ him.  Shino and Kiba acted like they hated each other but Kiba would never hurt an insect and Shino always had a treat for Akamaru.  Shika talked more when all of them were together than when it was just a few of them.  Chouji always made sure to have enough food to share with Naruto so he would eat.  Ino was always getting onto someone for not doing homework.  Sasuke actually listened when his ear was towards you, not his eyes.  Hinata saw _way_ more than most of them did.

They were friends.  Not the best of.  But they were friends.

**/5\**

After the revelation that Naruto wasn't a bad student, but wasn't being helped by even the sensei, Sakura took her two best female friends shopping.  Not the kind Ino liked.  The kind Sakura liked.  Book shopping.

“'Kura, what are we doing?” Ino glared.

“Buying books.”

“Yeah. Why? You have all the books.”

“I do not. And these won't be for me.”

“Naruto?” Hinata whispered.

“Yup. I saw some books last time that I think he'd like. Might need to get Kiba to swipe a book for me though.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Sakura?” Ino gaped.

The pink haired girl stared at her friend with a flat look.  “Remember when we met. I told you a thing that you didn't know. I want to get that for Naruto.”

“You knew a lot of strange things, 'Kura. Still do,” her best friend responded as she thought back.  “Uzu?”

“Uzu?” Hinata parroted.

“Uzu,” Sakura grinned and turned back to the shelves of books.  She could hear Ino start to explain the Uzu thing to Hina as she skimmed the titles for what she wanted.

The curriculum was pretty set in stone.  Sakura couldn't find a whole lot of deviations between when her Tou-san went through and now.  Which was probably a bad thing, but she wasn't able to fix it.  Something to think about for when Naruto became Hokage.

And he _would_.  Naruto would become Hokage.  Ino would go through the ranks before taking over T &I from her father.  Chouji would make at least chūnin and learn recipes from all the nations.  Shika was wondering how quick he could take over the jōnin ranks.  Hinata would lead her clan and make 'all the changes.'  Kiba and Akamaru would become a team so great everyone knew their name, or moniker if that happened.  Shino would make find a way to turn his clan's usually destructive jutsu and transform them into helpful medical ones, something a few members tried but never completed.  Sasuke would become stronger than his brother and let his family rest before taking over the Military Police as his forefathers did before him.

Sakura wasn't sure what exactly she wanted to do when she was older.  Part of her wanted to know as much as possible.  She wanted to have at least the basics of most ninja skills under her belt.  She also knew that a lot of the village needed to be overhauled.  The academy lessons were the same her father had when he went through!  Twenty plus years and no changes?  Not good.  Even Shika agreed there needed to be changes.  Mostly though, she wanted to keep her friends and help them with their goals.  (There was also the part of her that wanted to create the biggest library ever, but that was her back-up plan if she didn't get through the academy.)

She and Chouji were similar that way.  _He_ wanted them to all see their twenty-fifth birthdays more than anything. 

Picking up the book on sealing she had spied hiding in the store behind the orange covered books, Sakura rolled a few ideas through her head to help Naruto catch up.  It wasn't _his_ fault the teachers and storekeepers and librarian didn't like him.  Not from what their group could tell.  She also grabbed a copy of Clans of the Elemental Nations Vol. 5.  It would give Naruto some information on the clans and politics probably.

The storekeeper smiled back at her as she got ready to pay, used to her coming in and buying books about strange or random topics.  Ino slid a book on trapping onto the counter.  Hinata shyly held up a history book they added to their pile.  It took most of their pocket money to buy all the books, but none of them really minded.  It was for a good cause.

**/6\**

The rest of Year Two went by mostly calmly.  There was some worry when chakra coils were to be unlocked by the class.  Since Sakura and Naruto weren't raised as ninja trainees and no one had thought to check they both had enough chakra for the shinobi life.  While they didn't know much, they at least knew chakra was necessary for the life-style.  Luckily they had their freak out at the Nara compound where Inoichi-sama, Choza-sama, and Shikaku-sama helped calm them down.  (Shikamaru had bribed his dad with getting him out of chores by helping them.)

Apparently children of shinobi were more likely to have more chakra than civilians.  Since they already knew Naruto was from a shinobi clan, which meant he would be fine.  Uzumaki is supposed to be a clan as old as Senju.  Sakura, with her shinobi father, was more likely to have enough chakra.  Which was apparently just a little bit more than the average civilian.  At least during Year Two.  Having civilian level chakra stores in Year Six would be a bad idea.  But Shikaku-sama promised to help them get their reserves up to standard before the end of Year Five.

The only other issue they had was at the end of Year Two, when rankings were posted.

“I don't get it!” Ino huffed.  “We know he knows this stuff. Naruto and Kiba should be next to each other. Why is Naruto at the bottom?”

“I toll ya, people don like me,” Naruto shrugged.

Even with them all helping him with homework and reading and catching him up on the past material, Naruto was _still_ coming in as the Dead Last.  Which didn't make sense because there were others they _knew_ didn’t understand the lessons. 

“Come on,” Sasuke scowled.  “There's no point in fighting it.”  And Sasuke was probably the best one to make that decision.  He partnered with Naruto during taijutsu practice and the teachers _still_ taught Naruto wrong, even when the Uchiha would say something.

Sakura grabbed her best friend and tugged the irate blonde all the way to the Inuzuka compound.  The pinkette was _not_ surprised when the entire walk was filled with Ino's complaints.  Their group of four was the last to head out, everyone else should have already made it.  Since Naruto had had detention, Sasuke had decided to make use of the academy taijutsu posts.  Ino and Sakura had taken the time to ask a few questions of the sensei while Naruto had detention, and then mark down everyone's rankings.

“I don't understand it! Why do people hate Naruto so much?” Ino griped.  “I mean, our parents don't seem to mind, but everyone else? Hate. Why? Nothing we've seen points to a reason!”

“She on another one?” Shika's voice called as they entered the main courtyard of Kiba's family compound.

“Naruto is ranked Dead Last still,” Sasuke answered.

The others all looked up from their homework or projects.

“Unlikely,” Shino stated.  “Why? Because we know Kiba and Naruto are near even with understanding.”  The mostly covered boy paused and thought for a moment.   “Unless Kiba is next to bottom.”

“Oi!”

“Nope,” Sakura cut in, before they could start arguing again.  “Kiba's in the middle. Sixty-four.”

“Aw, man. Kaa-san's gonna kill me. She said I had to be at least top fifty.”

“You're not far off,” Chouji offered.  “And written tests are worth more right now. That might change next year.”

“The academy years work from eighty percent written in Year One to twenty-five percent by Year Six. We're at seventy percent written, thirty physical,” Sakura rattled off as she set her bag down.  “Continuing, Chouji has spot fifty-two. Hinata is thirty-five. I'm at twenty-nine; but again written weighs more at the moment. Shino, twenty-sixth. Shika at twenty-two. Ino is eighteen. Sasuke at eleven.”

“We should also take into consideration helping each other with homework,” Shika commented.  “There was less time spent on individual studies as we all helped each other. So long as Naruto keeps up his study habits, we should rise next year. And we can keep track of Naruto's true rank based on our own.”

“Speak for yourself, Shika-kun,” Sakura huffed.  “I'll probably drop ranks next year. Physical is not my friend. And we learn actual weapon use next year.”

“So we spend some of break practicing,” Kiba shrugged.  “I'm sure we can get Shika's tou-san to help out again.”

Shino offered his opinion next.  “Sakura may still have a point. Why? Next year is actual taijutsu spars. As she and Naruto do not have clan taijutsu, they will use the academy basic. As our parents are all clan-raised, I doubt they will be able to help with those.”

“And clan styles are allowed next year,” Hinata continued the train of thought.  “Most of us will have a more active style next year.”

“I wonder if Uzumaki have a clan style,” Ino wondered aloud, looking up at the clouds.

“Huh?”

Ino sighed at her fellow blond.  “If we find the Uzu style, you'll have a better chance of winning spars. And it would be harder for the sensei to teach you wrong; they wouldn't be the ones teaching you. Sakura... We might have to look in the library, or have one of our cousins get some styles for us. And Naruto if we can't find Uzumaki's style. Though if we do that you’d have to learn both the academy and the new one.”

“Taijutsu is usually tailored to occupation, or most likely used jutsu,” Shikamaru cut in.  “We would need to figure out both of their paths before picking one.”  He closed his eyes and formed his thinking sign.  Everyone stayed quiet as they let him think.  Ten minutes (or an eternity) later, he looked back at them.  “Naruto would most likely need to be a ninjutsu specialist for the Hokage position. Tou-san said Uzumaki were known for their large chakra stores, so it shouldn't be hard for him.”

“He can take a beating,” Sasuke piped.  “His stamina is crazy even for our age. I only win because I have a better style and know his weaknesses. If I don't end a spar quickly, he'll outlast me.”  Naruto beamed at the new information his partner was giving him.

Shika nodded.  “Front-line fighter. Hands would need to be free often enough for jutsu use.”

“He doesn't have as much reach as some of you guys,” Chouji offered.

“Hmm,” Shika closed his eyes again.  “Sakura, do you know where you want to go?”

Sakura shook her head.  Even though her friends had specific dreams, she had never been able to pick one.  One of the projects in Year Two was to find a dream or how far you wanted to go in the shinobi corps.  Sakura had put down jōnin or chūnin instructor.

“So something that you can branch out of easily. You don't have as much strength as Ino, but you can keep up with her and Hinata when you spar.”  Shikamaru paused as he ran options through his head.  “I need more information. Sas- no, never mind.”

“What?” Sasuke asked.  “What were you going to say?”

“Something rude,” Shika smirked.  “And would probably get me hit by the girls... And maybe Naruto.”

The three kunoichi-in-training looked at each other.  None of them had followed the genius' thoughts so they weren't sure if he could be wrong about their reactions.  He did have trouble with human interactions still.

“Nara, just ask,” Sasuke growled.  “If I think it's rude, _I'll_ hit you.”  Giggles broke out in their group.

“Does your clan copy more than ninjutsu? Is it possible there's a taijutsu section?” Shika finished his thought.

Sasuke, who didn't seem insulted or upset by the question, thought about it.  “I... don't know. I know there are ninjutsu archives. The library is pretty big honestly. And I haven't been looking for something like that. I have the taijutsu scrolls.”

“Wouldn't the Hokage have gone through the library?” Ino asked.  “I mean, that has to be a lot of information.”

“No,” Shika shook his head.  “So long as Sasuke is alive, the Uchiha clan still exists. If they did it would be theft. And most clans keep a register of the library contents. At least generally.”

“So if we found the register?” Kiba trailed off.

“We would still need to find specific scrolls and books. And the register might only have the titles, not contents.”

“I can see if the register is in the house,” Sasuke offered slowly.

Ino spoke up before anyone else.  “Honestly, if we're going to have to look for things anyway, we should just go through the library. We can start during break. With all of us, it shouldn't be too hard. And we can bribe Shikaku-sama to explain anything we don't know.”

Chouji nodded.  “It would give us help with some of the paper stuff probably. Going and looking through it all.”

“You sure, Sasuke-teme?” Naruto asked quietly.

Sasuke gave a jerky nod.  “It's gotta get done eventually. Might as well start with the library.”

“Mkay. Wanna spar?”

“Sure.”

Sakura knew they would probably be keeping an eye on Sasuke while this project happened, but it looked like Naruto had it covered.

  **/7\**

Their new project ended up being harder than they originally thought.  The Uchiha library was _humongous_.  It also looked like a hurricane had hit it.  Which made the clan kids worry.  Shika found evidence of missing files from the clan registry.  Sasuke was not happy about that.  So not happy that he dragged Naruto with him to talk to the Hokage.

Which caused Shikaku-sama, who the kids trusted not to lie or take anything by threat of Yoshino, to be the one leading the investigation into who took what from the library.  Sasuke was warned that it would be hard without a complete inventory.  So the group focused on that instead of finding taijutsu for Naruto and Sakura.

Most of the summer break was spent either hidden in the library or being dragged to practice her physical skills for Sakura.  Luckily her friends understood her love for information and helped her keep up with both her studies and training.  While training was being done, usually someone would be reading something to mark what it was about.  It usually meant at least five pieces were categorized before they were done.  They had ended up just putting all the books and scrolls on the tables and reorganizing the library itself.

“Hey, Sakura!” Kiba called from his spot laying under a tree, the scroll he had opened and held above his head.  “Where is Naruto’s clan from?”

“Originally?” she asked back as she focused on her projectile training.  “Uzu no Kuni. Or more specifically Uzushiogakure. The main founding clan, Uzumaki, had close relations with Senju during the Warring States Era so our villages were considered sisters. Uzushio was known for seal masters and a very unique way of viewing fuin. Similar to how Suna is with puppetry now,” she rambled as she threw her kunai.  “Why?”

“Do you know anything about a connection between Uchiha and Uzu?” the brunet asked.

This caused others who were listening to stop and look at them.  Sakura thought about the question honestly as she went to see what Kiba had found.

“I know that during the Warring States, the Uzumaki stayed neutral between Uchiha and Senju fights. There are disagreeing points on why. I read a Uchiha journal that said the Uzumaki were cowards, but Oba-san said it was because Uzumaki, Uchiha, and Senju were all distantly related.”

“This scroll mentions an,” Kiba paused and looked at the scroll, “exchange program set up before the Second War. This mentions an Uchiha was in the group.”

“Is there a name?” Sasuke asks.  “There’s a lot of journals. Maybe they had one too.”

Kiba shook his head.  “Haven’t found a name yet. But something to keep out for, right?”

Sasuke nodded.  Information on Uzushio and the Uzumaki clan was difficult to come by.  The Land of Whirlpools wasn’t even mentioned in their classes.  Sakura’s list of ‘Academy Changes to Make’ was several scolls and notebooks long.  Every one of her friends had added this or that to it.  Like Kiba’s addition of being introduced to the animal companions before graduation.  Or Chouji’s idea of wild mushrooms and other edible plants, instead of just trapping and hunting.  Or even Hinata’s idea of learning a few basic civilian skills before graduating.

But those things her friends added were things they had taught each other or found themselves.  Uzu information was almost impossible to find.  Sakura was pretty sure her Oba-san had known an Uzumaki, but hadn’t gotten the nerve to ask.  The sealing book she had originally found for Naruto only covered calligraphy and how to tell a bad explosive tag from a good one.  There were a few tips on adjusting explosive tags too, but nothing about making them yourself.  Which probably made sense since a bunch of kids had been able to buy the book, even if they were trainees and clan kids.  For now they had Naruto working on his calligraphy since the book mentioned how important it was to fuin.

“Does it mention any other names?” Sakura asked.  If another clan member had gone, that would be even more information for Naruto.

Kiba skimmed through what he had read.  “No, just mention about how the clan felt proud to have been selected to go.”

“Which makes no sense,” Ino huffed, “if Nidaime-sama didn’t trust them. Sending a longtime rival to a longtime ally for learning purposes? If he didn’t trust the Uchiha, he wouldn’t have sent one. Which means everything we’ve read about Nidaime-sama distrusting the Uchiha is a load of crap.”

“Ino!”

“What? It’s true, ‘Kura. We’ve found stuff pointing to the fact the Uchiha felt like they were being ocrasized from the village.”

“Ostracized,” Shika grunted.

“Whatever,” the blonde glared at her friend.  “So what happened between the Second War and the end of the Third? What changed?” 

Unfortunately, Sakura didn’t think they were going to find out.

 **Hell no. That’s probably whatever whoever took from the library** , her second voice stated.  She couldn’t help but agree, though she didn’t say so aloud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mostly just fleshing out the friendships and setting some stuff up for plot. Sorry it took so long to get out guys!
> 
>  
> 
> And for those of you who might want to know, I have decided to start chapter 3 with the Genin Days Arc. Though there will be more sections around their Academy Days mixed in!


	4. Family Uses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be the chapter with the Genin Exam and Bell Test. But I'm still trying to figure how Kakashi is going to be. I love reading fics where Kakashi becomes Team 7's father figure, but Sakura has her dad already so more thought is needed. Instead I'm giving you guys a bit more into the Academy Days segments.
> 
> 12/31/17: minor formatting edits

### /8\

“Naruto, will you come?” Sakura asked quietly during lunch.

The blond orphan was the last on her list.  Her parents were allowing her to have a sleepover with all her friends and Naruto was the last to verify if he was going.  Knowing how the villagers treated him, she wasn’t sure if he knew her parents wouldn’t treat him like that.

She hoped.

Her Tou-san at least wouldn’t.  He had been the one to add Naruto to the list of people to ask.  Kaa-san though… Sakura wasn’t so sure.  Her Kaa-san’s family were all civilians, who ended up being the most vicious of Naruto’s tormentors.  The pinkette hoped both of her parents would treat her friend right.  If not…

“Sure, Sakura,” Naruto smiled shyly.  Sakura beamed at him.  Everyone would be there then.

That afternoon, after their group finished for the day, the pink haired girl braced herself before entering her home.  Tou-san had a mission so he could be at the sleepover, so it would just be her and her mother.

“I’m home,” she called.

“Welcome home, sweetie. I’m in the kitchen,” her mother called back.

Jumping onto her seat at the table, Sakura pulled out her most recent book, actually a collection of letters from the Uchiha Library about Uzushio’s Academy lessons.  She was hoping to find something about Fuin for Naruto.

“Everyone’s agreed to the sleepover,” she stated simply, keeping an eye on her mother for any tells. 

“Everyone has permission?” her mother asked back.

“Yeah. Well, not Naruto or Sasuke,” Sakura reminded.  “But they said they’d come.”

“Good.”

Sakura smiled as she caught no indication her mother felt anything bad for Naruto.  But still she worried.  “Kaa-san?”

“Yes, sweetie?”

“You’re not gonna,” the pinkette stopped.  She didn’t want to be grounded right before the sleepover.  But she really had to know.  “Naruto isn’t exactly liked by the village,” she started.  Her mother paused in her cooking and looked at her.  “You’re not gonna hate him, are you?”

 

Haruno Mebuki looked into her daughter’s serious emerald eyes.  The woman could see how much this meant to her daughter.  How much her answer would shape their relationship.  Mebuki also knew that if she lied, Sakura would never trust her again.

“I don’t hate him,” Mebuki admitted.  “I don’t know him to hate him. I’ll admit that gossip works against him, but he’s your friend. Your Tou-san doesn’t have a problem with him. And Kizashi says none of the other parents care.”

Seeing she had Sakura’s complete attention, Mebuki thought some more.  “You know I was a chunin. My family may be civilian and I may have been raised so, but I do know some of the shinobi mentality.”  Nowhere near where her daughter was even at her young age, but Mebuki noticed some of the things complete civilians ignored.  “I decided when you all became friends that I would hold judgment until I had met every single one of your friends. This sleepover will help with that.”

The pink haired little girl nodded, far more serious than Mebuki wished her daughter to be at such a young age.  But she also knew that to stop her daughter would cause so much damage to their relationship.  Mebuki had seen it with her own relationship with her father.

“Your Obaa-san is interested in meeting Naruto-kun too. She mentioned coming over to help us adults.”  Now that Mebuki thought about it, that probably wouldn’t have been a good surprise.  Not with their little blossom worrying about things like this.  “Do you want her to come over early so you can talk to her?”

Sakura nodded.  “Yes please. Thanks Kaa-chan.”

“No problem, my little bloom.”

 

Naruto shuffled after Sasuke-teme as they headed to the Haruno house.  The blond wasn’t scared.  He just… Sakura-chan was one of his first friends.  The whole group consisted of most everyone who tolerated him.  If Sakura’s parents didn’t like him…

The blond could remember making friends at the playground only for parents to tell their children not to play with the ‘demon child.’  Naruto didn’t want that to happen again.  Not with the people he cared about.  The ones he considered family.

“Come on, dobe,” Sasuke knocked into Naruto’s side.  “Don’t wanna be late.”

“Dun’t wanna be early though,” he grumbled.

The blond knew his rival/friend was side-eyeing him.  He wasn’t that oblivious.  But he really liked having friends.  If that changed…

“Dobe, Sakura isn’t like every villager here,” the brunet reminded him.

“She’s got family, teme,” Naruto shot back.

Sasuke stopped walking and actually faced his fellow orphan.  “Yeah, and she’s Sakura. You do remember what she and Ino planned for that clerk that threw rotten food at you, right?”

Naruto nodded.  The two girls had mentioned the incident in the Akimichi compound.  Loudly.  Right by some adults.  That store didn’t seem to be doing good anymore.

“Sakura isn’t going to let anyone tell her what to do, dobe. Now let’s go. You know I hate being late.”

 

Sakura was happy she had talked to her Obaa-san before the party.  Even more, the pinkette was glad she had talked to Ino about coming early.  Ino had agreed after she had explained and the blonde had brought Shika and Chouji.  Which meant her family was distracted with them when Sasuke and Naruto showed up.

“Hi!” she beamed.  “Come on in.”

“Hey Sakura,” Sasuke twitched his eyes towards the unusually quiet Naruto.

“Sakura? You gonna let them in?” her Tou-san asked.

“Mhmm,” she opened the door more.  Naruto stayed close to Sasuke, but Sakura didn’t know how to help.

“I heard you were behind the Hokage Tower’s new paint job,” her Tou-san commented.  “While I’m not a big fan of yellow, it was certainly entertaining.”

Sakura smiled gratefully as her father pulled the two boys aside for a conversation consisting mostly of shinobi stuff.  Her Tou-san would keep Naruto safe.

It was far later in the evening that Sakura noticed her Obaa-san talking to her blond friend.  Naruto didn’t look upset, but the pinkette made her way over there anyway.

“-swear people need to think sometimes,” she heard her Obaa-san huff.  “You know where Atsu General is?”

Naruto nodded shyly.  Sakura was almost there.

“Three down is Tsubeki Trades. My family owns it. I’ll make sure your welcome. Every person deserves access to food. Especially children. Sakura!” Oops, she’d been spotted.

“Hai, Obaa-san?”

“Make sure you show Naruto-kun where our stores are. And if he has any trouble you tell me. Understand?”

“Hai, Obaa-san!” Sakura grinned.  Her grandmother, Tsubeki Akemi, was connected to quite a few civilian businesses.  The Tsubeki family dealt in trade throughout Hi no Kuni.  And Akemi was the matriarch of the family.  Sakura was glad her grandmother would help make sure Naruto was taken care of.  While Chouji’s clan tried, the Akimichi didn’t have sway in all the businesses.

### /9\

It took them some time to find the taijutsu scrolls within the Uchiha Library.  The summer break had already passed and Year Three had started.  This meant that Sakura and Naruto had begun learning Kihon-ha, the Academy basic taijutsu.  And when they _found_ the scrolls, they ran into even more problems.

“What does this even say?!” Ino yelled in frustration as they looked over a scroll they had found. 

It had the Uzu spiral on it so they were hoping to find the clan technique for Naruto.  Unfortunately the ink on the scroll _moved_.  It never stayed in one spot and never seemed to form any words.  Sometimes the spiral would appear but nothing else recognizable.

It became a whole other project for them.  Besides finishing the library and beginning to go through the personal possessions of the Uchiha clan.  On top of the group’s homework, training and personal projects.  Even Shika, the smartest of them, couldn’t figure out the stupid scroll.  Sakura was beginning to worry about her best friend.  It seemed like Ino took the inability to read the scroll as a personal affront. 

“Ino, leave the troublesome thing alone. It’s not going to reveal any of its secrets by yelling at it,” Shikamaru groaned.  “Come help us fix Naruto’s stances for Kihon.”

Sakura smiled weakly at her friend as Ino moved to critique her and Naruto’s stances.  The physical aspects of shinobi life were definitely not her favorite parts.  She was the weakest, slowest, and had the least endurance.  She was working on it, but she didn’t have the advantage of years of early training or hereditary super stamina.  So after completing her homework she would practice her stances or throwing or do the leaf concentration technique they had learned a few weeks previous.

Of course, the pinkette doubted she would ever be as good as her friends, but they had years’ experience on her.  She hoped to one day stand as at least an equal in her own right.  All of them were the best in some aspect of their chosen profession.  Physical just wasn’t hers.

Sakura was pretty sure hers was thinking in non-linear patterns.  She liked to make connections that didn’t really make sense to her friends unless she explained.  They may not be able to read the scroll yet, but she was sure they would before they graduated.  Even as Ino adjusted her fifth stance, Sakura was running through possibilities.

Though she did agree with Shika that it was very strange to find the Uzu scroll in the Uchiha compound.  Especially since Naruto had complained to Lord Hokage about not finding anything just a few weeks before they found it.  They had found connections between the Uzumaki and Uchiha, but nothing to suggest one strong enough for the scroll to be _here_.

“Do you think it’s blood sealed?” she wondered aloud.

“What?”

“The scroll,” Sakura answered Ino.  “Do you think it’s blood sealed? Like that room we found?”  The room where lots of documents pointed to some really strange things happening in the Uchiha compound before the Massacre.  They had told Shikaku about it, though they only let him in the room with Sasuke.  There were already suspected thefts in the library.  No need to make it worse.

“The Uzu scroll?” the blonde tilted her head.  “It… could be. Hey Naruto! Go bleed on the scroll!”

“What?” the boy stared.

“Sakura thinks it could be blood sealed. Like the creepy room you and Sasuke found.”  Accidentally found, but still.  It was a funny story at least.  The two boys getting into a fight and Naruto getting his first hit with a live blade.  It was luck that the blood splatter had landed in the right place to open the room.

Naruto shrugged and walked over to the table set aside for the Uzu scroll.  Taking his practice kunai, he jabbed his palm hard enough for blood to fall.  It wasn’t much.  They suspected that in addition to super stamina and super chakra reserves, the Uzumaki had super healing.

By the time Naruto’s hand had healed, their small portion of their group was surrounding the table.  The blood seemed to be eaten by the ink before the crazy patterns began to slow and words became visible.

“Whoa.”

“Huh.”

“Cool!”

“Way to go, ‘Kura.”

The pinkette couldn’t help the heat that rose to her cheeks as Ino praised her.  They had done it.

"Umi no Tsuki,” Naruto read with a wonder in his voice.


	5. Shinobi at Last

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 12/31/17 1735 CST: minor edits to my poor Japanese skills

### /21\

The days after the Genin Exam were full of activity.  Their group had only been able to meet up in twos and threes instead of all together.  But enough information was passed around.  Naruto had passed his exam, due to special circumstances.  Which he promised to explain the next time their group got together and had a moment to hear it all.

Even after all the years that had passed, they still went to the academy in a similar fashion.  Still sat in a similar formation.

Shikaku had let slip years ago how the teams were decided.  Jonin-track would all be put together if possible.  Genin Corps would go straight in with either an older genin corps or chunin corps member to help them settle.  Jonin-track teams ended up being tested to see if they were _really_ ready or should be sent into the Corps, or another year of the academy, depending on what the jonin said.

Finding out their group made three of the jonin-track teams wasn’t really surprising.  The only one who might’ve not been jonin-track was Naruto due to being Dead Last _still_.  But putting him and his chakra stores in the Corps would be like using a cleaver to cut your dinner.  Still works but you’re not really using it right.

Sakura couldn’t be upset that her teammates were Sasuke and Naruto.  While not the _best_ of friends with them, she still knew them well enough to know they would work together well.  Maybe not as well as Ino, Shika, and Chouji but well enough.  Shino would take care of Hina, who was still shy to those outside their group, and Kiba would keep attention off the quieter members of his team.  Logically, Sakura could see that her team would be front-line, Ino’s intelligence (like their dad’s), and Hina’s a tracking team.

Though being the last genin in the room, still waiting on their sensei to show up, was starting to piss her off.  Luckily, her friends knew how to keep her attention off things like that.

“So, me for nin, Sasuke for tai, and you for gen? Did I get that right?” Naruto asked.  He had started offering reasons for things in Year Four.  It was an accomplishment Sakura and Shika enjoyed when they played Cause-and-Effect.

“Probably,” Sasuke grumped.  “Though I don’t think Sakura knows any genjutsu yet. Do you?”

“Inoichi-sama taught me, Ino, and Hina a few basic ones. I still don’t have enough chakra to do them long term though.”  Even with Shikaku’s and her own Tou-san’s help her chakra stores were still pretty mediocre.  She had the best chakra control of their group though.  Even better than Shino, and he still wanted to be a medic.

“How’d it go with Lord Hokage?” she asked the blond.

He groaned dramatically at her.  “Hokage-jiji said that if I kept up my progress from this year, I might be able to start actual fuin in six months. With actual books and scrolls.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Sasuke teased.

Before they could get into their usual banter, the pinkette piped up.  “Any ideas on _where_ our sensei is?”

“Emergency mission?” Naruto offered.  Sasuke and Sakura just stared at him.  The blond rubbed the back of his neck.  “Yeah, Jiji would probably have sent someone to us if that was the case. Hey, I gotta tell you guys something.”

The other two shared a look.  “Just us?” Sasuke asked.

“Well, I might tell the others. Kinda depends. But I wanna tell you guys first.”

“Okay. What’s up?” the lone female asked.

“So, I found out why people don’t like me.”  Both looked far more interested than before.  Their group had lots of theories on why Naruto had to deal with stupid people.  “So, you know how the Yondaime killed the fox? He didn’t. Kill it, I mean. He sealed it… In me.”

That… made a lot of sense.  Helping Naruto learn fuinjutsu allowed their group at least a basic understanding of the complex ninja art.  Sakura probably understood the most since she had taken to helping Naruto with the theory more than the others, though a few of them had areas they were interested in.

“Makes sense,” Sasuke grunted.  “A creature made of chakra that powerful wouldn’t really be able to be killed. Contained makes more sense.”

But… “Wait, people hate you because you keep the Kyuubi from killing everyone?”  Sakura needed clarification.  So much clarification.

“More they hate me ‘cause they think I _am_ the fox,” Naruto looked sheepish.

“That’s stupid,” she stated easily.  It did make a lot of their childhood make more sense though.  “Civilians and average shinobi probably don’t know even the basics of fuin since the only thing touched on in the Academy is storage seals and explosive tags. Everyone else’s parents would be high enough rank to at least know that _that_ theory was stupid.”

“Still doesn’t give them the right,” Sasuke grouched. 

And Sakura couldn’t really refute that.  The treatment of Naruto by most was something their entire group hated.  Ino had gone from being loud about it to being sly about it.  She had even roped in most of them for her comeuppance plans.  Sakura even knew Hinata had beaten her sister in a spar after Hanibi said something about Naruto.  Hina’s Tou-sama had been impressed enough to allow their group to spend time in the Hyuuga Compound, Naruto included.

“No. It doesn’t. That’s why it’s stupid,” she reminds Sasuke.

Naruto just stared at them in awe.  “You mean… You…”

“Dobe, if you thought we think the same as the idiot villagers, you haven’t been paying enough attention,” Sasuke growled.

“Agreed. We’ve all known that they were stupid. Now we know why. _And_ this is even more reason for you to learn fuin.”

“Also explains why Hokage-sama wants to wait for you to actually start learning.”

“Huh?”

“Depending on our sensei, we may be in some upheaval before settling. And the Chunin Exams should be in about eight months so…”

“Do you… think our sensei will be like the villagers?”

“If they are, we can get Tsume and Hana on him,” Sasuke grinned.  Tsume and Hana were reserved for the worst of the idiots.  Usually just the shinobi though. Civilians got Sakura’s family.

“We could technically go tell Inoichi-sama ourselves,” Sakura smiled sweetly.  “When we know he’s at work, of course.”  Anko would take delight in “re-educating” the poor sap.

Naruto smiled back at them.  “You guys are the best.”

“And don’t you forget it,” Sakura winked.

“We’re a team,” Sasuke stated with an easy shrug.

Being on a team with Naruto and Sasuke wouldn’t be hard at all.  They knew each other, worked well with each other (not including the boys banter), and knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses.  Now if only their sensei would show up.

Sakura listened to the two best friends banter about taijutsu versus kenjutsu for a while.  It was soothing.  Something she heard often enough among her group of friends.  With their years of friendship, the three Jonin-track teams weren’t likely to be sent to the Corps or back to the Academy.  They had gathered quite a bit of intelligence on the Jonin tests before Year Six.  Having friends with lots of shinobi relatives helped a lot.  Especially when they could piece things together without actually asking about the tests.  Their sensei would be in for a surprise that was sure.

Speaking of… “Hey, should we tell this guy all our skills?” the emerald eyed girl asked softly.

Naruto and Sasuke both stopped to think about it.  With the new information about Naruto’s… furry not-so-friend, she wasn’t sure if being true right out the gate was a good idea.  Judging from the boys’ faces, they were thinking the same thing.

“Probably not. Not if they could be like the rest of the village,” Sasuke grumped.

“But can they really teach us if they don’t know what we know?” Naruto shot back.  Sakura beamed a little bit at the way her blond friend had grown.

“We didn’t tell the chunin here.”  Point to Sasuke.  “Chunin who were supposed to gage our skills for best team placements.”  Double points then.

“Does anyone besides our group know the specific lists?” Sakura wondered aloud.  The others’ parents probably knew.  Shikaku-sama probably had a good idea of the group’s skill set.  But would the chunin have known about Shino being able to walk on water already?  Or Ino starting to make her own poisons.  Or even that Naruto and Sakura had started to piece together fuinjutsu in Year Three from what they saw around the village.

“Huh,” Naruto scrunched his face as he thought about it.  Hokage-sama had specifically told Naruto he couldn’t learn fuin until the old Professor told him.  But by that point they had already worked out how to make a standard explosive tag.  Not that they told him that.

Though Ino and Shika agreed that Sarutobi-sama probably had an idea since it was silly to think Naruto could lie to the man.  With the whole Kyuubi-sealed-within thing, Sakura figured the Hokage being able to say ‘I told him not to’ was like plausible deniability.  Thinking about it, a lot of things that they were (or weren’t) told could probably link back to this new bit of information.  She and Shika would have to sit down and flesh it all out, but on her own she could see at least ten.

“-ura. Earth to Sakura. Earth to Sakura,” Sasuke drawled.

“Hmm?”

“Get lost?”

“I have a new topic for Cause and Effect next time we play,” she shrugged.  Both boys laughed at her.  She honestly couldn’t blame them.  She did space out quite a bit.  “I think we should see how this sensei works. I mean, depending on their attitude and teaching style…”  And she was sure a few other things.

“Yeah. Makes sense,” Sasuke nodded.

“Can we keep up with our studies and new schedule?” Naruto asked.

Sasuke and Sakura could only shrug.  It all depended on their sensei.  Who was still _really_ late.  By several hours.  Which didn’t bode well for whoever they got.  As they contemplated how much time they would have for their personal studies, the door to the classroom opened.

All three turned to look at the jonin.  Silver-gray hair, hitai over one eye, mask covering bottom half of his face.  Someone they were all at least familiar with the name of.  The only person besides Sasuke with a Sharingan, within Konoha.  Hatake Kakashi.  Sakura’s mind put together the puzzle pieces easily; he was probably their sensei due to Sasuke.

“Well, why don’t you three meet me on the roof? Then we can get to know each other,” the jonin grinned.  Or at least appeared to.

“We already know each other, Tardy Sensei,” Sakura responded before he could leave the doorway.

“And we know that you are Hatake Kakashi, or Copy Cat Kakashi due to your implanted Sharingan eye,” Sasuke huffed.  Seemed he wasn’t too happy about the possible reasons for Hatake’s assignment to their team.

“Oh? Then why don’t you introduce each other to me.”

Naruto grinned at the man.  “Uchiha Sasuke: last of the Uchiha within the village. Likes training, tomatoes, and making things burn. Wants to rise to retake the Military Police force for his family. Dislikes sweet things, being compared to others, and ass-kissers.”  Sakura giggled at the blond’s description.  All true things too.

Sasuke glared at her for giggling.  “Haruno Sakura: daughter of a chunin and civilian. Likes books, sweet rice crackers, spending time with friends, and learning new things. Dislikes not knowing something, liars and bullies, and being told she won’t succeed due to being raised a civilian. Dreams of having the biggest personal collection of books in Hi no Kuni.”  Again all true, though not all of who she was.

Her turn then.  “Uzumaki Naruto: last known member of the Uzumaki clan.”  Sakura’s green eyes caught the slight widening of Hatake’s eye at the clan reference.  Interesting. “Likes ramen, training, and pulling pranks. Dislikes those who hate without reason, cats, and the three minutes it takes to make instant ramen. Dreams of becoming Hokage.”

“Did we pass, Tardy Sensei?” Naruto cheeked.  Sasuke smirked and Sakura broke down in more giggles.

###  /11\

One of Sakura’s most hated days had arrived.  One of the rest days for the Academy.  Which apparently only the civilian-raised used for rest.  All of her friends used it for training.  Even Naruto, though he usually pulled pranks.  And now the pinkette did too.  They all met up at someone’s clan grounds, this time Shika’s, and refined their skills.

Which meant Sakura spent most of the day running, doing katas, practicing throws, and other basic exercise things.  Which most everyone else was at a level accepted to only need a ‘warm-up’ session.  Chouji usually joined for the running; Naruto for katas; everyone did throws together; Ino joined for strength stuff too.  So really she wasn’t alone.

Sakura would just prefer to be reading or working on her reserves.  Which she did while running too with the leaf concentration technique.  Of course her friends made sure she worked her mind too.  Usually by asking questions while she did whatever.  Shino and her had a whole conversation about tactics one time while doing push-ups.

This time though, most of the group was working on jutsu usage.  With Naruto having the most stamina as always, and her being left out early on due to poor reserves.  Which really only made her work harder with the leaves.

**Cha! Let’s see if we can keep in up with strength training too!**

Which was a good idea.  Though she’d have to be careful not to overdo it.  She didn’t want chakra exhaustion.  Better make sure someone spots her.

Logically she knew she shouldn’t compare herself to her friends.  Not only did they have more experience, their parents had more shinobi qualities than hers.  But it was still hard to look around and realize she was the weakest in most cases comparatively.  It made her insecurities flare up.

So no, Sakura didn’t really like rest days.  They made her feel so far behind her friends.  Her mind might be sharp and on par with most of the others, but physically she was the bottom of the pack.  She knew physical ability wasn’t all that was needed.  Shikaku-sama was Jonin Commander and he was super smart after all.  Inoichi-sama was smart and head of T&I.

But she still felt weaker compared to her friends.  She didn’t want her friends to have to pull her along.  She didn’t exactly want to lead the group either, but she wanted to be running beside her friends.  These thoughts really only made her work harder.

And though the pinkette didn’t see her own improvements accurately, those around her knew she was anything but weak.  Ino knew Sakura would be right beside her when the going got rough.  Shikamaru knew he could count on another point of view from Sakura.  Naruto knew if he ever had trouble with the reading Sakura would explain it to him so he understood.

But who ever really sees themselves correctly?

 

These were Naruto’s favorite days!  Not only did he get to spend _all_ day with his friends ( _he had friends!!_ ), he gotta learn all the stuff he needed to become a shinobi and eventually Hokage.  All the wrong things the sensei taught him were fixed, either by his friends or their families.  ( _Who didn’t hate him!!_ )  All the things he had trouble with were explained to him.  Rest days were the Best!

He and Sasuke-teme were able to go full out in their spars. ( _Usually. Sometimes they didn’t_ )  Kiba-baka and Chouji helped him with the throws and Umi no Tsuki katas.  Shino-san and Hinata-chan tried to help him with his chakra control. ( _He didn’t really like those lessons but as Hokage he’d need to know that kind of stuff_ )  Sakura-chan and Shika helped out with the books and things like that.  Then Ino-chan helped him understand all the stuff he shoulda known from his clan.

Which was both awesome and really sad.  He had a clan!  A family!!  Or woulda if Kiri hadn’t killed them all.  Or mosta them.  Shika said since he was born a survivor had to of come ta Konoha either before or after Uzu fell.  So one of his parents had ta have been Uzumaki.  So he had family.  Probably had family traditions and jutsu and stuff, but nothing he could find easily.

“Uhooow!” he yelled out as Ino smacked him.

“Focus, Naruto. I don’t care how much chakra you have. You have to practice the Academy Three like everyone else,” his fellow blonde huffed at him.

“Sorry, Ino-chan. I’s just hard ta focus,” he told her sheepishly.

The Yamanaka heir smiled a little at him.  “That’s why we’re helping you, baka. We can help you to refocus.”

Yeah.  Naruto had the best friends ever.

 

Sasuke didn’t mind the rest day routine.  He got to spend the day improving and could compare his skills to his… friends really was the only word for them.  Even now, about a year after his family- After everything, he still wasn’t sure _why_ they stayed near him, included him, _cared_ for him.  The dobe was different.  Naruto’s situation was different from the others. 

But still they sat around him.  They ate lunch together.  They did homework together.  They helped him with the _compound_.  They stayed.

Unlike Ani-

Sasuke shook his thoughts from their path.  He had worked hard to keep those thoughts away.  Though he would be grateful to Ino and the book she slipped him early on about trauma and psychological warfare.  The lone Uchiha didn’t want to think of where he’d be if she hadn’t given it to him.

Probably still mad.  Still full of hate.  Still listening to _that man’s_ words.

And she never asked him about that night.  None of them did.

Sometimes Sakura would ask questions about clan stuff, but she asked everyone those questions.  Sometimes Chouji would ask questions about who lived where in the compound, which usually led to them all talking about family.  Sometimes Naruto would give him tips on living by himself, but Naruto was like that and the only other one living alone.

It was nice.

Different but nice.

Sasuke shook out of his thoughts as Ino smacked the dobe.  Some things always remained the same.

###  /22\

She wasn’t sure _what_ Hatake was up to with the two bells bit of the test.  But she could see the three genin versus a jonin.  Statistically a team of three to four genin and chunin level shinobi could overtake the average jonin.

Unfortunately, Hatake Kakashi was anything but average.

They had spent the rest of yesterday gathering what intel they could on their prospective sensei.  After the whole ‘chakra monster sealed in Naruto’ conversation.  Hatake graduated before double digits, made jonin before twelve; was trained by and served in the Third War under the Yondaime; was given a sharingan eye by his dying Uchiha teammate as a jonin promotion present.

An Uchiha which they were able to find very little about in the library.  Which pissed Sakura off.

But why the strange test?

Why only two bells?  When there were three to a team.  _At least!_   Even most ANBU teams had more than two members.  Pair fighters were almost a commodity for a village.  Shinobi that could fight and predict each other so well they made up for the other one to two team members.

Which Naruto and Sasuke could probably become.  They were already pretty good at anticipating each other since Naruto moved in with Sasuke to conserve funds.  But they couldn’t do it without experience.

So why?

And suddenly her body was taking her away from Hatake.  Away from the threat.  She instinctively took hold of her chakra and snuffed it as much as she could.  A few hundred meters from the starting point, Sakura paused.  She needed to find the rest of her team.

Team!

Hadn’t she been thinking about it yesterday?  How she, Sasuke, and Naruto would work well as a team.  Not as good as Ino’s team, but still good.  Better than average.

Teamwork!

Now to find her teammates.

A feather-like chakra web settled on her right before she could take off.  Before she could react, the pink haired preteen was caught in a genjutsu.

It took a bit for her to get out of the genjutsu unfortunately.  She didn’t have much experience with them yet.  She’d have to remedy that.  Inoichi-sama should be able to help.  Or maybe one of the others.

But she got out, just in time to find Sasuke buried up to his neck.  She had to stop and giggle before she could help him out of what was most likely the end result of a doton jutsu.  The whole time the dark haired boy glared and scowled, but she could see a bit of an upturn to his lips.  He knew why she found it funny.  After all this was over he would laugh too.

“I know what this is all about,” she told him as he pulled himself out of the ground.

“Yeah?”

“Teamwork. Two bells to pit us against each other.”

Sasuke stared at her for a while before commenting.  “Is Hatake a sadist?”  Sakura giggled some more.

It only took them a few minutes to find Naruto.  They all knew each other’s chakra signatures well enough that finding one another in a single training ground wasn’t hard.  Once found it was easy to explain the test.  Naruto made a similar comment to Sasuke’s (“So he plays with people’s heads like Shika with a shogi board.”)

They were only able to enact phase one of their plan.  Naruto swarms Hatake with _solid_ clones.  Sasuke waited in the wings for a chance to send a fireball or two into the fray.  Sakura was poised to race through the scrimmage and snatch a bell if possible.  She was pretty sure they just had to show some teamwork, not actually get the bells.

The pinkette was still waiting for her chance when the bell went off.

“Well, looks like we’re done,” Hatake smiled.  Sasuke and Naruto both looked ready to continue the fight.

Remembering the beginning circumstances set, Sakura walked out from her hiding place.  “Who gets tied up then?” she asked, making sure her tone was flippant.  She wasn’t exactly happy with the C- to B-rank genjutsu he hit her with.

The eye smile Hatake gave them was unnerving.  “Well, out of all of you, you Sakura, failed to make an attempt for the bells. That puts you getting tied up.”

Before she or even the boys (and all the multiple clones) could even think to protest, the pinkette was held in rope by their ‘sensei’.  As she was already caught, Sakura let the silver haired man lead her to the three posts and tie her to them.  Judging from the knot, she might be able to get out in half an hour. 

“Alright then,” Hatake beamed.  “You two have lunch. We’ll see about who will remain a shinobi afterward. Remember now, Sakura-chan doesn’t get anything to eat and has to stay there.”  And then he was gone.  At least from their senses.

“Bastard,” Naruto growled.  “Should we cut you down Kura?”

Testing her binds, Sakura shook her head.  “I’ll be fine. We did eat something before all this so I should be able to skip lunch.”  Having an Akimichi friend made for a healthy appetite.  The one time Ino and she had thought about ‘dieting’ like her Kaa-san suggested, Chochi-san, Chouji’s kaa-chan, had set them down and explained what exactly food did for them and what the difference between shinobi and civilian life styles and eating habits.

“Plan?” Sasuke asked as he opened the bento.

“Can he really stop our careers before they get started?” Naruto asked.

“Doubtful,” Sasuke grumbled.  “More likely another scare tactic. Which _worked_.”

“I know some don’t go back to the Academy after the genin tests. But I’m not sure if it’s due to the jonin or them deciding not to continue,” Sakura admitted, while she played with her bonds.  “It doesn’t sound like a sound move for the village forces though.”

“So Hatake is a sadist,” Sasuke nodded to himself.  Sakura giggled while Naruto started chocking on his rice.

“I think when he comes back we should attack him. Together,” Sakura giggled out.  “Show him we’re not giving up _and_ we can be a team.”

“Then you’ll need your strength,” Sasuke told her, holding up some of his chicken.

###  /23\

The only, **_ONLY_** , plus to their lazy, always-tardy, never listening sensei was that the personal projects that had been put aside during the Academy were being completed.  Sakura could see no other positive for Hatake being their sensei.  And she knew Sasuke and Naruto agreed.

Kami! Naruto sent about a hundred clones to the Uchiha Compound to speed up the cleaning that had been slow going for years.  She had even convinced Sasuke to sit down and learn to make his own storage scrolls, instead of work on his ninjutsu or kenjutsu.  Which if you _knew_ Sasuke, meant he was really bored.

The brunet loved to play with fire and swords.

Naruto had even set a couple clones to read the books set aside for him!

Naruto! Reading! **Willingly!**

But the pinkette had finally figured out the trick to security seals, so plus.  Naruto’s control was getting better. Though she was pretty sure it had something to do with the hundreds of clones he created. 

And wasn’t that something!  Shadow clones!  Which made Naruto a one man army, literally instead of figuratively.  Of course they had spent some of their ‘free’ time asking Shikaku-sama about the jutsu.  Memory transference!  Oh if she had the reserves for just _one_.

But while her reserves were _so_ much better than they were years ago, she only really had half of what Sasuke had.  Sasuke who had a fraction of what Naruto had.  But her control rivaled Shino’s so, she didn’t waste as much as her teammates.

Another plus, she had finally figured out the amount of chakra for light injuries when using the Mystical Palm.  Which meant she was able to _heal_ those same small injuries.  She was nowhere near Shino’s skill, but that was a given since medical jutsu wasn’t her focus.  But it was still a good skill to have.  Ino was learning some too since they figured having one medic-like per team was a good idea.  Shino had mentioned it being an idea first brought to the village by Senju Tsunade.  An idea which didn’t go anywhere.

And they had finally found a taijutsu style for her in the Uchiha Library.  And she had the first kata sets down and had started to use it when sparring with the group.

But they were getting into their second month of genin training and D-Rank missions.  And Hatake wasn’t taking them any more seriously than when they took his test.  Which pissed her off _so much_.  So much so that none of them had let on even a touch of their true abilities when with him.

**Bastard deserves it.  If he can’t treat us seriously, why should we treat him seriously?**

She was pretty sure Hatake had no idea of their true skillsets.  Shikaku was really the only one she’d pin, not of their group, to know most of everyone’s skills.  And mostly because they all felt comfortable asking him questions without feeling he’d go tell someone else.  Since Shikaku was the Jonin Commander, and they all planned on reaching jonin, having him know their skills made sense.  Once Shikamaru took over, they wouldn’t even worry about it.

No way Hatake knew Naruto could make explosive notes, trap seals, and the best paralysis seals any of them could find.  Or that Sasuke could coat his practice blades with a thin layer of chakra.  Or that she could now detect and disrupt up to low-B-rank genjutsu.  She wasn’t going to let another genjutsu stop her from getting to her team, not like Hatake did during the test.

And from the new Uzumaki scroll Naruto’s clones had found in the Library two weeks ago, Sakura was pretty sure Hokage-sama was aware of their deception against their ‘sensei.’  Naruto still couldn’t lie to the old man, not that any of them tried to teach him _how_.  Not after the Uzumaki scrolls started showing up.  They kept parts of the Library unsorted just so those had a place to appear after all.

She was currently looking through some examples of strengthening seals to see if she could reverse engineer them.  Though she wasn’t actively looking at them as she thought through all the… **bullshit** … they were dealing with due to Hatake being a lazy ass bastard.

Luckily no one could read her mind.  Her mother would make her retake etiquette lessons if she knew of the language going on up behind her big forehead.  Sakura blamed Naruto.

Checking the sun, the pinkette started gathering her things.  They generally cleaned up and had lunch before Hatake showed up, and they were expected at Ichiraku to meet up with the others.

“Hey guys! Lunch!” she called as she sent her papers into her personal storage scroll.

 

Naruto was glad for the extra time when they first became genin.  All of the things he and his friends had to let slide due to school were getting their time in the light.  He could _finally_ make twenty-five good regular bushin!  And shadow clones!  He could do something none of his friends could!  A jutsu all his own!

The time to work on his taijutsu and his fuin were appreciated too.  Those were his heritage after all.  The blond was happy to be able to call himself proficient with Umi no Tsuki and getting better every day with fuinjutsu.  He could keep up in a tai/ken spar with Sasuke-teme for more than half an hour.  He had read all the books Sakura-chan and Shika had put aside for any free time.  He had even started on the ones Ino-chan had set aside!

Ino’s books were probably the ones he loved the most.  They weren’t _easy_.  But he could see how they would help him as Hokage better than the ones Shika and Sakura gave him.  Shino had even handed him a book on trade the other month!

Having his friends behind him as he worked towards his goal made him feel like he could fly.  Even after years of it.

Now, Naruto may have been oblivious to most things his smarter friends caught, but even he knew there was only so far they could go on their own.  Sasuke-teme’s nin and ken were stagnating.  (And yes, he knew what that meant. One of Shika’s books had it in it) Sakura-chan was moving through her projects with a speed that made Naruto worry for the next month.  Even his skills were reaching the top he could get them to alone.

Eventually something would give and things would change.

(Naruto put his money on Sakura blowing. Kiba had his on Jiji getting annoyed with Hatake-sensei)

Hearing Sakura’s call for lunch, Naruto broke from his light spar with Sasuke-teme.  They were having ramen for lunch today!

“Ramen!” he grinned.

Sasuke shook his head at him.  “Such a dobe.”

“Shut up, teme! Ramen is the food of the gods!”

“Boys,” Sakura called, “clean up would you?”

“Hai, Sakura,” the two boys chorused.  Naruto and Sasuke may be the fighters of their team, but both of them knew who the leader and planner was.

 

Sasuke let himself flop onto the ground in a very undignified way when they got back to the training field.  The brunet didn’t mind eating ramen every now and then, since they finally convinced Naruto to have it as a treat instead of every day, but those bowls were much bigger than he remembered.  Teuchi probably gave them more than the usual amount.

But they ate it all so he really couldn’t complain.  Surprisingly, none of their group had a problem eating at least one bowl at Ichiraku.  Even the slightly bigger servings Sasuke was sure Teuchi gave them.

“What are we betting today?” he asked lightly.

“I’ll give him an hour today,” Sakura murmured as she lay down with her head on one of his legs.

“Eh, I’ll give him less than an hour,” Naruto, the idiot, grinned.

“One and a half.”  It was a fairly usual bet they made.  Person furthest off had to bring breakfast.  Sasuke didn’t really mind bringing food; he had plenty of money to spend some on breakfast bentos.  Granted, he kind of wanted one of Tsubeki-sama’s bentos.  “Think we could get your grandmother to make us bentos next week?” he asked.

“Mmm, probably. It’s been a week or so since the last ones. I’ll ask on my way home,” the pink haired girl offered.

“Two missions pay?” Naruto offered up.

“One each should do it. She got mad last time we gave more than that,” Sakura reminded.

Sasuke and Naruto shuddered as they thought about the one time they had tried to overpay for their bentos.  Tsubeki-sama was probably the only reason both boys knew how to cook basic meals and they had wanted to pay her back for that.  In response she had denied them bentos for three weeks.  Mebuki-san thought it was hilarious, but still made extra for Sakura to bring them.

“One works,” Sasuke muttered.

“I’m good with one,” Naruto shuddered.

Sakura just laughed at them.

###  /24\

One of Ino’s favorite days was genin rest days.  They happened anywhere from ten to fourteen days between them.  And today just happened to be the first one all three teams her group of friends made had off together.  So this would be the first full day they would all be able to catch up, train, and just spend time together.

As they would probably be talking about things they wanted kept secret, they were all meeting at the Uchiha Compound instead of one of the more populated clan compounds.  Kami knew there was no way to hide secrets in the Hyuuga or Inuzuka Compounds.  Aburames didn’t seem to mind leaving them alone and most Naras were lazy enough they could get away with it.  Ino knew her own clan was a bunch of nosy ninjas so the Yamanaka was out.  The Akimichi were great but generally wanted to feed them or make sure their strength was up to snuff.  Which wasn’t bad, but part of today was to relax.

Taking a look at her own teammates, Shika and Chou, Ino knew they had probably gotten lucky with all nine of them on the same teams.  Shikamaru was pretty sure Hokage-sama had something to do with it.  And if so, he would be her second favorite Hokage.

“Ino, turn,” Shika grunted.

The blonde looked up to see she had almost passed the turn into the compound.  “Whoops. Thanks, Shi-kun,” she teased.

“You okay, Ino?” Chouji asked.

“Yeah, just thinking.”

“Don’t hurt yourself,” Shika teased back.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Hey Ino!”

Turning back to the street, Ino spotted her best friend.  “Hey Kura!”

Looking at her friend now, Ino really couldn’t see the shy little civilian girl and the pink haired young shinobi as the same person.  But they were.

Sakura’s hair was cut just below the shoulder blades, put up in a mess of braids that hid wire, senbon, and even a brush from the wooden end Ino could see in the back.  Gone were the civilian clothes too.  The lone civvie-raised now wore a spring green yutaka top held in place by a darker green (almost the color of her friend’s eyes) thin obi paired with a light brown short skirt over dark brown leggings.  The pinkette had several weapon pouches, one on her right thigh and another right below her left knee.  Ino knew there were hidden pockets in her sleeves and skirt hiding Sakura’s array of storage scrolls and shinobi tools, and probably a few books and writing utensils too.  Sakura wore the traditional shinobi sandals, though again in a green that matched her eyes.  And her hitai-ate wrapped loosely around her neck with the same brown fabric as her leggings.  All in all, she looked far different from the little girl Ino once pulled into her circle.

“The boys are going through some stuff the Naru-clones found these past weeks, but I’ve set up in the Library,” Sakura smiled.

“Of course you have,” Ino laughed.  “Anyone else here yet?”

“Nope!”

“Good,” Shikamaru smirked.  “That means I can nap.”

Rolling her eyes at the Nara, Ino moved to follow her friend inside the Uchiha Library.  Chouji followed the two girls and pulled out a taijutsu scroll from the many in the main room.  Ino noticed that her teammate had changed from Year One as well.  Setting her head on her fist, the beginner poison user took stock of her teammate.

His color scheme had stayed green and white, and he was still heavier than most their age, but there were subtle differences she could make out.  Chouji now wore leather fingerless-gloves, which held a few storage scrolls at the inner wrists.  He bandaged the rest of his arms up past his elbow now.  His pants were long instead of the shorts he wore before graduation, though she knew he still bandaged his legs past the knee.  The green over shirt the brunet wore was lined with pockets which hid his weapons and the occasional bag of chips.  And his white shirt hid the light body armor covering his chest.  Her longtime friend had even hung up his scarf after a spar where Kiba used it against him.  His headband was currently being used in the typical style to keep his hair out of his face.

Thinking about it, Shikamaru had changed too.  Though not much.  He had switched his short sleeved mesh armor shirt for a long sleeved one and had swapped his light gray jacket for one that went over his elbows and reached his waist (his hitai-ate pinned to his left sleeve) in a darker gray to better hid in shadows.  The only other change she could point was the wrap he used on his lower legs.  Ino knew his jacket was lined similarly to Chouji’s with pockets and weapons, but Shika still had a visible pouch on his leg opposite his hitai.

They all had changed really.   _Some more than others_ Ino thought as Hina, Shino-san, and Kiba-san entered the library.

Shino and Kiba seemed to have changed the least, but the blonde knew they were covered in as much storage scrolls as the rest of them.  Once their little group had figured those out, no one went without back-ups in some form.

Kiba still wore a fur-lined jacket and cargo shorts, but he _had_ dropped the dull gray color he wore before.  His jacket was a green almost the same color as the leaves that their village was named for and his pants a brown that meshed well with the tree bark.  Kiba kept a visible weapons pouch on his leg, though it really only carried soldier pills, blood pills and such.  He kept his forehead protector in the traditional place on his forehead and primarily wore a pair of black sandals.

Shino had probably changed the least.  He still had the tan bulky jacket of his clan, but they all knew the fabric had as many pockets as Shino had kikaichu.  He hid both medical supplies and weapons in them.  Which gave his bulky coat an even bulkier look.  Shino, like most of them, had changed his pants to reach his ankles, held in place with bandages and the typical blue shinobi sandals.  Like Sakura and his female teammate, Shino had his hitai-ate covering his neck.

Hinata had changed a lot, though not really in clothing.  The bulky clothes she had started wearing in Year Three were gone.  And though she still wore a jacket it wasn’t form-fitting or bulky.  Ino knew the blue haired heiress had some tricks up those sleeves.  And some were even hidden in her dark blue pants.  Hinata’s real change though came from her confidence and presence.  Now the shy girl could put up a front to rival most Hyuuga Main Family members.  Granted, they only really saw it when she was pissed off.  Hina’s glare had put more than a few Hyuuga clan elders in their place.  Their group knew Hinata could spin circles around them all in a one-on-one spar if she took it seriously.  The blunette was only limited in her maintaining a taijutsu specialty instead of branching out like Ino herself had.

Naruto had changed too.  He wasn’t as stupid seeming as before.  You could actually see some of his smarts in the things he did.  Most of it was still intuition, but they had all put effort into helping Naruto towards his dream.  Out of all of them, Naruto’s caring and hardheaded-ness would be best suited to the position of Hokage.  Sasuke _had_ averted a fashion disaster of orange madness before Naruto could buy more than one.  The blond only wore the bright orange monstrosity when planning on staying in the compound so only their group ever really saw the thing.  Which he was apparently wearing today as the ‘dead last’ entered with Sasuke.

Normally, Ino knew Naruto wore black pants with two weapon pouches like Sakura, though flipped to account for his preferred weapon locations.  Naruto’s shirt was a teal color they had found was the Uzushio main color like green was for Konoha.  He had an open black haori over said shirt, though the Uzu Spiral was stitched into the back.  Unlike the others, Naruto kept his storage scrolls visibly wrapped around his waist under the haori.  Ino was pretty sure the blond had a few things hidden in his sleeves but had never gotten a straight answer on the query.  Naruto, being a traditional kind of guy (read: uninventive) had the standard blue sandals and kept his hitai-ate on his forehead.

Sasuke was wearing his own training clothes, a set of dark brown haori and hakama with his sword strapped to his back.  _Usually_ the brunet wore tan pants with a leather belt, holding up his weapon pouches which were linked through said belt so they stayed in place, and a dark red tank.  Sasuke wrapped his arms from wrist to shoulder and kept his sword across his lower back, again held in place by his belt.  Ino was pretty sure a couple of the guys were planning ways to use said belt against him, but she was pretty sure Naruto had already pointed that flaw out.  The boys really were unoriginal with their sandals and headband locations, as Sasuke had his _just_ **like _Naruto_**.  Ino wasn’t sure where Sasuke kept his multitude of storage scrolls, but she knew he had them just like everyone else.

Thinking back, the blonde knew she had changed too.  She probably looked more like a shinobi than she had all through the Academy.  She had a deep purple dudou covering her chest but a long white over shirt and chest wrap keeping her covered.  Said over shirt also hid her arm guards, scrolls, and her poison vials.  She had a short pair of white leggings to just below her knees and bandages covering the rest of her legs.  She had fixed her protector with a purple fabric she used to form a skirt with her hitai right over her belly button.  After a spar with Hina that ended with her hair in the blunette’s hands, Ino had taken to keeping her hair in a bun so she could keep the length she enjoyed in her off time.

Even without the changes they had made since graduating, Ino thought their group looked the most ready for shinobi life while still students.  Which she attributed to them all getting advise through the years by their families.

Tuning back in to the present, Ino found everyone describing their sensei in greater detail than they had in public places.

“Man, Kurenai-sensei is tough,” Kiba groaned.  “She’s got us doing chakra control exercises all the time, even during our Ds. I get it’s good but I don’t feel like we’re learning anything. Most of these things we’ve done for at least a year.”

“I concur,” Shino added, “though helpful with future endeavors, I do feel she has little idea of how to teach our team outside of her specialty.”

“That’s genjutsu right?” Naruto asked.

“Yeah,” Kiba nodded.  “She has given us a few to practice but only gen. Nothing else.”

Ino snorted.  “Better than Asuma though.”

“Yeah?” Kiba challenged.

“Yeah,” she grinned.  “Asuma was pretty cool at first; testing our skills and seeing where we all were compared to the Academy records, but it didn’t last. He’s turned what was a really good start to a focus on finding Shika’s limits. Which leaves me and Chou without instruction most of the time. At least she treats you equal.”

“Eh, she treats Hinata like a little sister, but I see where you’re comin’ from,” the feral looking boy nodded.

“I have known Kurenai-sensei for a few years,” Hinata reminded them in her quiet voice.

 

Naruto was pretty glad for the rest day.  Though really _most_ of their days were rest days, it was cool to get everyone together.  After he and Sasuke dealt with the weird shit his clones had found in one of the houses (and who kept chains that thick in the bedroom anyway?), they had joined everybody in the library.  Which was usually their meeting place due to everyone being able to find something to read or do in there.

He wasn’t sure why Ino had been looking over everyone with a sharp eye, probably something her dad or Anko-san had mentioned about people, but everyone seemed to be ignoring it.  But he figured it wouldn’t hurt any to leave her be.  Sometimes she’d go all quiet and end up with a neat idea, like everyone stitching the Uzu Spiral somewhere on their clothes!  That had been a good day.  Or the time she had wondered if they could ink a storage scroll on cloth!  They were still working that one out though.

The conversation had started out pretty innocent.  Everyone talking about improvements they had made and new tricks they were learning.  Then they got on the subject of senseis.  Naruto couldn’t help but share a glance with his housemate.  Sasuke-teme had a similar expression of ‘it’s coming’ on his face that Naruto was pretty sure was on his own.  Sakura had been steadily getting more pissed off with Hatake-sensei’s attitude and both orphans had been watching for when she would be pushed over the edge.

Sure they all complained about him in public.  But none of them went into what all annoyed or pissed off or just rubbed them wrong about their assigned sensei.  Not in public.  And the group hadn’t gotten together like this in private in forever.  Which meant Mt St Kura was gonna blow soon.

“At least your senseis are taking it seriously,” Sakura bit out, though she looked like she was still reading whatever scroll she had.

“What?” Ino’s interest had been piqued.

Sakura huffed.  “I said at least your sensei are taking you seriously. Ours doesn’t even _teach one of us_.”

“What?!” came the response from several of the group.

Naruto leaned back against the table behind him from where he was straddling the chair.  Was this it?  Or was it just smoke and no flame?

The blond noticed Sasuke get more comfortable in his agura position on the floor.  He then watched as Sakura blew a pink strand of hair away from her face.

“Hatake hasn’t taught us anything. We’ve done missions but the most he’s done it work on our ‘teamwork,’” the pinkette growled.  “Which isn’t really teamwork but having the boys spar with each other and me just sit there ‘working on my reserves.’”  A few of the group flinched at that.  Chakra reserves were a touchy subject with Sakura, but she had more than enough for her age according to Shikaku and Inoichi and Chouza.

“How does he have you do this?” Shino asked.

“Leaf exercise,” Sasuke smirked.  “Which we all know Sakura can do on the tips of her fingers.”

“Wait so he just has you do that?” Kiba asked.

“No,” Sakura admitted.  “We haven’t shown him what we can do. If he isn’t going to take us seriously, why should we treat him seriously?”

Ino giggled.  “So what do you do?”

“Hold a few leaves on my forehead. Sometimes I’ll spin them.”

“But he’s never seemed to notice,” Naruto added.  “Always has his nose in his pervy book.”

Shikamaru caught everyone’s attention as he sat up.  “So we’ve got one that has no idea what they’re doing, one not giving every member equal attention, and one not taking anything seriously. Sounds like something needs to change.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a plan,” Ino sing-songed, grinning like a loon.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. Over 8k words in this one. Which considering the topic makes sense. I have no idea if this length will become a usual so enjoy it while it lasts!
> 
> Your thoughts and reviews make my writing go just a little bit faster~


	6. Changes in Action

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor language warning for Kiba. Because Kiba always cusses in my head.

### /12\

Never had his group of friends seemed so important.  Chouji actually felt his worries and frets leave as he entered the Library.  After a day full of people telling him he would never be a good shinobi, the oasis the rows of books and scrolls was a blessing.  Having his friends and a task was better than hearing the whispers of others about him and his skills.  Chouji could stop thinking and just work.

But today there was a different scene in the building.  Instead of his friends spread out around the bookshelves or outside practicing, everyone was around one of the big tables.

“Chouji!” Ino smiled.  “Come look what we found near one of the houses!”

Making his way over was easy enough.  He recognized the scrap of paper on the table as a seal.  But otherwise, he was lost.

“What is it? Besides a seal,” he added as Kiba looked up at him.

“It’s an explosive tag,” Ino grinned.  “Kiba and Shino found it in one of the Uchiha fields. Naruto figured out what it was.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Naruto grinned.  “But when Shino held it up, I knew what it did. Big boom.”  The manic grin Naruto had made Chouji wonder if anyone let him have coffee again.  The one time the energetic blond had it, the village had to deal with a _lot_ of pranks.

“You also knew what the seal for the hidden room meant,” Sakura murmured.  “How did you know?”

“I dun know, Sakura. I just did,” Naruto shrugged.

Chouji watched as she began quizzing Naruto about different pieces on the seal.  They had been trying to figure out seals for Naruto to learn for a while now.  Seals were Uzumaki specialty.  With seven clan kids, they all wanted to give Naruto a piece of his family.

“Come on, Chou,” Ino grinned.  “Kura’s gonna be at this for a bit. Might as well do something else.”

He laughed as he followed his longtime friend towards what looked like a pile of homework.

 

Shikamaru watched the others move on while Sakura kept asking Naruto questions.  Most of them didn’t make sense on their own.  But Shikamaru had spent over two years keeping track of Sakura’s thoughts.  He couldn’t always keep up, but he found it a challenge to try to.  The civilian raised member of their group had a unique way of looking at things and the genius didn’t always follow it.  He wasn’t sure if it was a civilian thing or just a Sakura thing yet.  He was leaning more to Sakura thing.

“How would you change the smoke color?” Sakura asked.

“You’d wanna add a color indicator to the seal,” Naruto answered, almost absentmindedly.  “Best to make sure you have a separate smoke sigil to make sure it changes the smoke and not the flame.”

“How the hell does the dope know this?” Sasuke muttered, watching the display.

“And if you wanted to turn it into a flash tag?”

Naruto paused.  “With the explosion still there?”

Sakura took the question seriously and took a moment to think.  “Yes. Keep the explosion; just add a flash bang to it.”

“You’d have to either change the color of the flame itself or add an entirely new segment to the tag.”

“Change the color of the flame? Simple color indicator or would you make a sigil for that too?”

“Uh, I don’t know.”  Finally, something Naruto couldn’t answer.

Sakura asked a few more questions before settling down and thinking.  Shikamaru took the time to think as well.  Some of it Naruto could spit out without a pause.  Some seemed over his head.  But there wasn’t a sense to it.  He knew to add a sigil to change the smoke color, but not what to do to change the flame color inself.

Troublesome.

“I think some of it is instinct,” Sakura said at last.  “It might be like… I don’t know, imbedded doesn’t sound right. Inherited maybe. Could that be it? Inherited knowledge? But then why doesn’t he know everything his clan would know?”

“Well his blood’s diluted right?” Ino spoke up.  “I mean, we only figured one survivor so wouldn’t he have ‘inherited’ less?”

“It could just be that Uzumaki usually learn early,” Shino offered.  “If so, then time might have taken some of the inherent knowledge Naruto would have otherwise.”

“Like how if you don’t practice something you can forget how to do it?” Sasuke offered.  “Ani- I was told to always practice even the basics to keep them fresh in my mind. So I don’t pick up bad habits.”

“Could be similar,” Shikamaru nodded.

“I wonder if we can take what Naruto remembers, what examples we find, and the Uzu scrolls to reverse engineer seals,” Sakura seemed to ask the air.

“That… Sakura, you’re amazing,” Ino stared.

### /25\

Shikamaru wasn’t sure how well the other parts of his plan would work.  He probably wouldn’t know until sometime after it ended if all went well, otherwise he had several other plans for each team.  Though the girls might share the results with each other, giving him some information for how his successful planning worked on two mostly unknown Jonin.  He was rather interested in how Hatake’s portion of the plan went.  He was the most unknown and supposed to be a very high ranked jonin of the village.

Ducking the senbon thrown his way, the Nara genius turned his focus to the spar he was in.  After all, if Asuma-sensei wasn’t going to pay attention to his teammates in favor of him, the least he could do was let them show off a bit.

Sliding into the shadows of the trees gave him a moment to reorient himself.  Genius or not, he couldn’t really afford to let his attention wander.

Not when Chouji was using all his power and stamina to outlast him.  Not when Ino was using all her tricks and poisons (non-lethal) to slow him down.

Shikamaru idly wondered _why_ he let himself come up with these plans.  Catching Chouji’s kick with the inky mass attached to his body was easy.  Holding Chouji while Ino tried to snare him in a genjutsu and stab him with a senbon, less so.

Very less so.

 

Kakashi was rather surprised when arriving at the training field.  There was no sign of the children.  No indication they had shown up at all today. 

Interesting.

Taking stock of the field, the jonin caught notice of a few traps hiding in the tree line. 

“Oh,” the Jonin eye-smiled, speaking softly into the still air.  “Are my little students ready to be serious?”

“Only if you are,” the disembodied voice of his kunoichi answered.

Impressive.  The sound had come from multiple sources leaving no single place to target.

He hadn’t realized she knew how to do such a genjutsu.  What else were his cute little students hiding?  He’d just have to find out.

At some unspoken signal, a crowd of Sakuras, Sasukes, and Narutos bled out of the trees.  Most likely Naruto’s shadow clones with a few bushin from the others thrown in.  Kakashi pulled out his book and waited for them to make the first move.

 

Not showing up for training would usually have Hinata in fits.  But this was more important.  Kurenai-onee-chan needed help.  After years of learning from each other and their families, even Kiba-kun could spot her inexperience with training others.  Leaving their sensei to meet Tsume-san and Shibi-san was probably not the nicest move, but hopefully it worked.

Both clan heads had worked to teach younger clan members tricks of their trade.  And Tsume-san and Shibi-san knew the three of them rather well.

And it wasn’t as if they weren’t training, Hinata reminded herself as she employed a kawarimi to escape the sharp jaws aiming for her throat.  Hana-san didn’t seem to be holding back today.  And the Brothers seemed ready and willing to aim for vitals.

Pulling another kawarimi to get her closer to Shino-kun, Hinata tried to make a plan to get them out of the sticky situation they were in.  The three of them were far better together than separated like this.  Unfortunately there were three hounds _and_ Hana-san after them.

### /26\

She would probably never be able to explain how she felt after Hatake’s first words to the empty but rigged training ground.  It wasn’t anywhere near happy or glee.  Mad wasn’t good enough.  Nor were pissed, frustrated or just plain angry.  Enraged, livid, incensed were all too weak of words.  Not to mention huffy, peeved, or miffed.

**Bastard wants _us_ to take the blame?! Fuck that shit!**

They had set the stage as well as they knew how.  The trees were covered in traps and seals ready to catch their enemy unawares.  The open space surrounding the taijutsu posts was now filled with clones, none of which were the actual members of their team.  There were small spots in the trees empty of traps for them to rest and watch, protected by Sakura’s security seals.

Naruto had rigged the forest from the Monument clearing to the trail with over a hundred traps, paralyzing seals, or false traps.  Sasuke had ‘donated’ the Uchiha collection of weapons (kunai and shuriken mostly) to arm said traps.  Sakura had set several sensory genjutsu on them all.  Ones for sound and smell mostly.  Those were harder to do, but also harder to break.

Her job was to keep the boys hidden as much as possible, heal any injuries they acquired with her limited skills, and keep Hatake on his toes.  She was positioned on the other side of the Monument clearing.  Hopefully where Hatake would consider ‘out of bounds’ for their spar.  Naruto had left her with clones to keep her updated and to switch if one of the boys got hurt.

Now they just had to get Hatake into the trapped woods.  He may have seen some traps, but Sakura knew most of the ones ten feet in were false traps.  Made specifically to make a paranoid person begin to think there wasn’t any actual threat.  Something Naruto had come up with _years_ ago.  The most damage a person could get from them was smoke inhalation.

“Trying this again?” she heard Hatake ask.  Probably about the clones.  Naruto had tried something similar with them during their Jonin Test.

“Why not come find out?” Naruto’s bubbly voice rang.

 

Sasuke was not happy.  First their plan to get Hatake-sensei to take them seriously fell through.  _Then_ he decided that to officially end the spar all three of them had to be caught.  Which meant they couldn’t team-up unless they wanted to give him an easy victory. 

“Hmm,” their _evil_ teacher hummed as he blocked Sasuke’s katana.  “How long have you been learning kenjutsu?”

Instead of answering, Sasuke moved into another stance, based on defense.  Sakura was low on chakra and Naruto had gotten caught, so any time he could get for them was good.  So long as he didn’t get caught himself.  There should be enough clones about to help them get somewhere safe.

“Now why wasn’t this skill in your file?” Hatake continued.

Fuck.  If the asshole could still _talk_ , then there was little chance he was going even half strength.  Dodging the random dog (and who the hell forgot to mention the summons!) Sasuke went for a getaway.

If he could just find a clone-

Sliding the rest of the way to the trees kept sharp pointy things from hitting him, but it didn’t help with the jonin on his tail.  Kawarimi would take too much of his focus and probably wouldn’t give him enough space.

Rustling in the bushes had him ready for more dog attacks.  And never did he think fighting Kiba and Hana-san would be so helpful.  Instead of one of the many hounds he’d seen, two blond menaces tackled Hatake.

Thank kami.  A third clone waved at him as it jumped into the wrestling match.  Taking the wave to mean what they had decided on last night, Sasuke took off for the Compound.  Not his home, but one of the other houses they had set up to look like someone lived there.  Naruto and Sakura should have regrouped there.  Hopefully the clones would keep Hatake busy long enough for them to plan.

### /27\

Kakashi couldn’t help but be rather impressed with his genin students.  While they were obviously trained in more than their Academy files stated, they only showcased those skills when they thought they were alone.  And while the Uchiha Compound was left alone out of respect, the training field was not.  The jonin had wondered about the team after their rather easy pass of the Bell Test.

Taking the time to just watch them had given Kakashi _far_ more information than the training and D-Rank missions did.  He was careful to keep his chakra completely suppressed and stayed well hidden while watching them.  No reason to let his skills get rusty.  And though he knew there was some chakra sensory ability, he didn’t know how much his cute little genin had.

The earlier match had given him quite a bit of new information on his students.  Not only did they know how to set up an ambush, they also had back-up plans.  The house they had originally retreated to was as trap laden as the field.  Naruto’s work mostly from what he saw, but going through the traps gave him a good insight into the boy’s thought process.  The staged furniture of the house was well done as well, probably the kunoichi’s work.  If he hadn’t known where the boys lived, or was a lesser shinobi, he would have thought this was their home.

After ending the day’s training, Kakashi had sat down with his students.  It was time for them to all get serious.

“Alright you three,” he smiled at the bound genin, his pack keeping an eye on them as well.  No use making escape easy.  “While I enjoyed today’s change, why have you finally decided to go all out?”

He had noticed early on in their time together that they seemed to be testing him.  Six weeks into their time together, the genin started to raise their skill levels.  Nothing like what he saw when they thought they were alone, but enough to have him certain they had been testing him.  Given the history Naruto had with Academy sensei, he couldn’t fault them for their caution.

“Are you going to actually _teach_ us?” the girl almost snarled.

From watching them, he knew she was the de facto leader of the three when they trained.  Though this was the first time he was _shown_ that tidbit.  From talks with Shikaku and Hokage-sama in the early days of Team Seven, Kakashi had realized how poorly informed he was by arriving late.  From the hints and jokes of the two, his students had prepared a plan of action that probably would have had them all working to their full potential much sooner.

Seemed _teaching_ was one of the things they had been looking for.  Which Kakashi had probably failed that particular test.  Humming a little as he thought, Kakashi wondered how many little tests they had given him.  And how many he had failed for being lax.

“That depends on if you’re going to actually show me your skills. Your real skills. Fuinjutsu, kenjutsu, trapping, control, ninjutsu, taijutsu, all of it.”

“If you knew we weren’t giving our all, why didn’t you _do_ anything?” Naruto broke the stunned silence after a few minutes.

“You were testing me, just as I was testing you,” he shrugged.

Sakura glared and let out a little killing intent.  Interesting.  He wondered if she knew she was doing that.

“You failed most of our tests,” Sasuke admitted.

“But we know you have the sharingan, which Sasuke will need help with when he unlocks his,” Sakura picked up the conversation.  “There’s probably something to do with Naruto involved with our team placement too. Seeing as you were the Yondaime’s student, you should know _some_ fuin to help there.”  The jonin wondered if they _all_ knew about the Kyuubi.  Or was she referencing the Uzumaki.  “Just because you have some skills that could help us, doesn’t mean we’re going to respect you. The only Academy sensei to gain our respect was Umino Iruka and he didn’t get assigned to our class until Year Four after his probation period. There may be jonin we respect, but they’ve _earned it_.”

“And I haven’t,” he nodded.  It was a rather odd belief system to be honest.  But with their group of friends’ history, he could understand how it came about.  “Well, how do we fix this? You don’t respect or trust me, and I don’t quite believe you’ll give me your all.”  When no one spoke up, Kakashi sighed.  Tossing three kunai to free the children, the jonin sat down.  “How about we start with actual introductions,” he offered as the ropes fell.  “Real ones this time. From all of us.”

In response he got three hard stares.  Which kind of figured.  He hadn’t been very forthcoming to begin with.  They had had to search for information on him.

“Hatake Kakashi. I’m the last of my clan, though I don’t know Hatake Kenjutsu. My mother died in childbirth and my father took his life after a botched mission just before the Third War.”  The shock on their faces made him feel a little better about giving the hard facts to them.  They were seeing he was serious about this.  “I became a rather strict, by the book shinobi after that. I followed every rule to the letter. My true jonin sensei was Namikaze Minato, before he became Yondaime. A few years after Minato-sensei got me two more genin were added to make our team. Nohara Rin, a medic-in-training and Uchiha Obito, who you might know a bit about. During the War Obito was wounded beyond saving, where he gave me his recently activated Sharingan eye. I learned the true meaning of the Will of Fire because of him.”

Pausing, the man looked at his students, though they were only that in name currently.  He could see the conversation they were having about his divulge of information, though not the words being passed.

Sasuke was the one to speak up.  “There isn’t much in the Library about Obito. Just that he gave you his eye. And all the squabbling the elders did about you keeping it. Him having only just activated the Sharingan makes more sense of that.”

“Idiots, all of them,” Sakura hissed.  It seemed a familiar byplay.

“There was quite a bit of… squabbling, yes,” Kakashi agreed, amused by the word choice.

“After the war?” Naruto asked.

“Mm, after when Minato-sensei became Hokage, I was starting solo missions.”  Again, not sure how much they knew about the Kyuubi, he wasn’t sure how to continue.  “How much do you know about the year after?”

Another silent conversation had his genin looking back at him with a united front.  He silently wondered if Naruto’s position in the middle was deliberate.

“We know about the Kyuubi,” Sakura stated slowly, watching him for his reaction.  “The Uzumaki have been the previous jinchuriki so Naruto’s mother or father was probably the last.”

“His mother,” Kakashi nodded.  All three sharpened themselves to attention.  Kakashi held up his hands to hold off questions.  “I have to get permission to tell you anymore.”

As he expected, Sakura took the information and ran with it.  “Permission? Konoha lost several S-Ranked shinobi that night. Without them some secrets would be kept. But why let Naruto keep his family name? Unless…” 

Kakashi’s slate grey eye watched his kunoichi student piece together the history.  When she met his gaze he could only stare blankly.  Surprisingly, she kept whatever she had figured out to herself.

“Kura?” Naruto asked.

Without looking away from Kakashi, she answered her friend.  “I need more information. Confirmation before I even _think_ about saying it aloud.”

Ah so she had figured out some of it.  Kakashi decided to pick up another thread she could have gone down.  “Without S-Rank shinobi there were few who could protect our young jinchuriki. All those who could give any sort of hint to other villages of who Naruto was, were forbidden from interacting with him.”

“So anyone with a connection to his mom weren’t able to talk to him,” Sasuke added.

Kakashi was rather shocked to see a tension release from Naruto’s shoulders.  “Unless I didn’t know who they were,” he muttered.

“Naru?” Sakura asked.

“ANBU. They would help more than anyone before… well, before. Because of the masks?”  As he was looking to Kakashi, the jonin nodded.  “Hound. You were Hound.”

“Ah,” Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck.  Was he going to tell them that bit?  Well they had already figured it out so there wasn’t any true harm.  “Yes. I knew both of your parents.”

“Both?” big, watery blue eyes stared at him.

“Yes. But again I need-“

“Permission,” the three chorused.  Sasuke was the only one to show his displeasure outwardly; his scowl was very much an Uchiha trait.

“Hokage-sama?” Sasuke asked.  Kakashi just smiled before letting the knots loose.

“So, you know who I am. I’m not a very social person. I prefer to spend my free time reading or spending time with the pack.”  He motioned to the now relaxed group of dogs.

“What you read isn’t good for polite company,” Sakura grumbled.

Smiling, Kakashi pulled out his orange book and showed her the inside.  Instead of the original literature, there was a book on teaching techniques given to chunin when they went to Academy duty.  He was rather pleased with the shocked expressions on their faces.

“Haruno Sakura,” unsurprising who got ahold of themselves first.  “My parents are civilian, mostly. Tou-san was a shinobi but he retired. My grandmother is in charge of Tsubeki Trades. I became friends with Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji early on in the Academy. We spread out to others in Year Two. I have a list of things I want to change in the Academy lessons. I like to read and learn new things. Dislikes include not being able to find information on something and most of the villagers; they’re idiots. My worst skills are my physical ones, but I’m working on them. My best are chakra control and fuinjutsu.”

Naruto stretched his arms above his head before starting his introduction.  “Uzumaki Naruto, last known member of the Uzumaki clan. Kyuubi jinchuriki. Got the surprise of my life when I was asked to help Sakura and Ino with their master plan in Year Two. Finally got the training I should have gotten as a clan kid, though my grades don’t reflect that since the teachers mostly hated me. Iruka-sensei was the first to try to get to know me and treat me like a person. I like training and spending time with my friends. Dislikes include waiting for things and people telling me my dreams are useless. Skills are some fuin, traps, and throwing numbers at things. Worst skills are waiting, weapons and taijutsu, but that’s only because I’m still learning the Uzumaki style.”

“Uchiha Sasuke. I had no idea about their plan but can’t say I’m upset with the outcome. I spend a lot of my free time going through the Compound with Naruto and learning what I can from the Uchiha scrolls and Library. I _like_ not having to pander to idiots, I’d rather burn them.  I enjoy training and sparring with this idiot. I dislike a lot of things but mostly the Commerce Council, minus Tsubeki-sama. My best skills are ninjutsu and kenjutsu, and maybe deductive skills. My worst are unarmed combat, though I work with Naruto on it, water and earth jutsu, and genjutsu. I can’t bring myself to rip someone’s mind like what was done to me.”

Kakashi wasn’t sure if he wanted to know what that last comment meant.  But they were just beginning to trust him, best not to rock the boat too much.  The introductions were more in line with what he had seen of the three.  He could work with that.

 

Sakura was rather pleased with the outcome of the group plan to knock sense into their sensei.  Granted every muscle she had hurt, and even some she didn’t know existed hurt.  Kakashi was treating them like true students though.  With all of their team on the same page, they were working to make-up for the first weeks of laziness.  Which explained the pain everywhere.

Her parents had been worried the first day when she came home, only able to stay on her feet because Naruto and Sasuke were with her.  As the boys were as knackered as she was, they made them stay the night. 

Kami she wasn’t even sure how Kakashi had exhausted Naruto.  That boy seemed to have endless energy.  He was perfectly fine in the morning too; though that she leant to the Kyuubi or Uzumaki genetics.  Sasuke was as sore as she was so Sakura hadn’t felt too bad about her envy.  Sasuke actually threw a kunai at their idiot future hokage.  Kaa-chan was not pleased with the hole in the wall.

Two weeks after the turning point and Sakura was still coming home exhausted.  Kakashi was not going easy on them.  Not that they really _wanted_ him to.

Their new training schedule was a very fluid thing too.  Mornings were mostly focused on physical prowess.  Naruto was told to make three hundred clones and use Umi no Tsuki in a free for all.  Kakashi said this would make Naruto learn to use the taijutsu automatically instead of the Academy one they were taught.  And every time he destroyed all the clones, Naruto was told to make more.

Sasuke’s morning training was always different.  One morning he would be forced to spar with Kakashi without weapons, taijutsu only.  The next morning Kakashi would have him do endurance runs or strength exercises.  And the next Sasuke would be told to go through handsigns under the watch of Kakashi’s shadow clone.

Sakura’s mornings were a lot like the ‘rest’ days of the Academy.  Kakashi had her working on her strength, speed, endurance, and every muscle group he could find an exercise for (which was all of them by the way).  When she was done with the ever growing list of ‘warm—ups,’ Sakura was then put through her paces in taijutsu.  But not the ones taught in the Academy.  Kakashi had spent some time going through the Library and found not a style for her to try, but several scrolls to combine and create her own.  Which meant a lot of trial and error in creating something never done before. 

When she asked about it, Kakashi told her that as they had never found a style that felt natural to her, the best thing to do was make her own.  It was something chunin often did to gain jonin rank.  A personal style was usually created over the course of a career, so Sakura got to be repeatedly beat down while Kakashi used every taijutsu style he knew.  Granted he only used one or two styles a day but it was still hard on her body.

The team had lunch together and Kakashi would go over tactics and strategies with them.  Which they put to the test after lunch in team exercises.  After seeing if their plan worked or failed, Kakashi would go over what went wrong or could’ve been better.  This had the entertaining factor of Naruto adjusting to bizarre plans that usually worked. 

 

Kiba wasn’t sure what his ma and Shino’s dad had done to Kurenai but it was terrifying.  Their sensei went from being unsure and worried to confident and scary.  Though the scary was mostly Kurenai-sensei bringing Anko into their training.  Hinata didn’t seem to mind but Kiba knew the girls had spent time with the purple haired kunoichi due to Inoichi. 

Snake lady was terrifying.

Snake lady and Sensei together?  Fucking petrifying.

Kiba thought they were pretty good at tracking before this.  But having to find a green and brown snake in the training grounds without using _any_ chakra or clan techniques was fucking bull.  Anko’s snakes could and would lie in wait for them to pass by and bite them.  Granted they didn’t inject venom but if you were bit you were out for the tracking training and put with Kurenai for genjutsu training.

Hinata was getting scary good with genjutsu.  Especially since she was focusing on ones that didn’t even touch sight.  She had gotten Shino with one that made you think you were slowly being squeezed to death by snakes but had no visual or sound to it.  Just made you _think_ the shit was happening.

Shino was getting good at his medic skills though.  Each day after training he would heal them until Kurenai-sensei deemed them in good health.  Anko was also teaching Shino about venomous and poisonous things that could be helpful in small doses.  Which was fucking scary since Ino was the one to use poisons but now you had to worry about Shino’s beetles dropping something on you that could fuck with your mind or body.

Kiba himself was the one they focused tracking training on, though they all got it.  Shino had to explain their sensei’s thoughts on the team for Kiba to get the team structure though.  (Kiba to track, Hinata to snare, Shino to insure health of both team and target) 

Fuckin’ terrifying.

 

Ino was pretty proud of how Asuma-sensei responded to seeing their spar.  When they had called a stop, Asuma actually asked them why they decided to do a two-on-one spar.  And Chouji, sweet Chouji, told him everything they thought.  And their sensei accepted their critique and got better.

Instead of focusing on Shika, Asuma would bring mission records for the shadow wielder to read over while working with Chouji and Ino in the mornings.  Ino in armed combat and Chouji in earth jutsu.  Lunch was spent with Shika being asked about the records and what he would’ve done.  After lunch they put Shika’s plans to the test in sim runs.

Ino hadn’t even thought about them using elemental jutsu since they have their clan jutsu.  But after some thought she thought she understood the idea.  Since they hadn’t thought of it, why would their enemies.  So Ino looked into her chakra nature.  Suiton.  Water.  Which she could add her poisons too.  Asuma-sensei laughed when she told him her plans.

Shika was also branching out to learn katon.  Shikamaru stated if he could get it right, he could create as much shadow as he needed for himself instead of relying on their surroundings.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus completes Part Once of the Genin Trials Arc. Next up - Wave


	7. Interlude: Sarutobi Hiruzen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Wave is on hold for a bit. Instead, have a look into the Hokage during the insanity that is this story.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was still dealing with the aftermath of the Uchiha Massacre when his predecessor’s son came barging in.  The aging man decided he deserved a break; the young boy meant a lot to him and hearing about his day was always a pick-me-up.

“Hello Naruto-kun,” the aged Hokage greeted.  “Did you have a good day at the Academy?”  The quickest way to guilt Naruto into _going_ to the Academy was mentioning how he should be there.

“Yea, I guess,” the boy stated.  Seemed he actually went today.  “Chouji asked for mah help wit’ somethin’ taday.”

“Oh?”

“Yea. Said he’d brin’ me lunch if I helped.”

“Helped with what?”

“Keepin’ Sasuke-teme from peoples.”

“Oh?”  That was certainly interesting.  Something he should keep an eye on.

“Yea. Ino an’ Shika’ru and Sakara seemed ta be glad I agreed.”

“With so little incentive?”

“Huh?”

The old man smiled.  “I’m happy to hear you’re making friends, Naruto-kun.”

“Me too!” Naruto froze.  “Do ya thin’ they’d really be my friends?”

“If you do as you agreed,” Hiruzen nodded.

 

The following months were… entertaining to say the least.  The children of clan heads had banded together to keep young Sasuke from dealing with the crush of questions and fans after the Massacre.  Hiruzen was shocked to learn that the basis of the plan had started with the young civilian raised friend of his Head of Intelligence’s daughter.  Very interesting.

Even more so was the knowledge the group that had pulled young Naruto into their plan were treating him equally.  And there was nothing he could do.  No one under a certain age was to know of Naruto’s burden _or_ heritage.  Those who knew his parents personally, unfortunately most clan heads and shinobi of note, were unable to interact with the boy unless it did not give away his parentage.  The _children_ of those shinobi and clan heads were not under the same rules.  Clan heirs being friends with the boy _shouldn’t_ pose a threat of connection to his parents.  Not when it seemed they picked Naruto because he was _loud_.

The children had given at least his clan heads probable reasons to interact with the boy.  Ways that could not be denied.  This made Hiruzen wonder if there were other ways besides ANBU that those who knew Kushina and Minato best could help the boy.  Hmm, that got him wondering about Naruto’s future team.  Who would be best for his skills?  Who would still treat him like a regular shinobi?

It wasn’t until an offhand remark from Naruto had him looking into _what_ the children were learning.  Fuinjutsu basics.  Oh they weren’t anywhere close to success, but the foundations were there.  And they had linked fuinjutsu with the Uzumaki clan.  Hiruzen would never admit to the long period of laughter that burst from his lips.

The children had even linked the Uchiha and Uzumaki clans in a way.  Oh Hiruzen was suddenly very happy his sensei had set up the Uzushio/Konoha Shinobi Exchange so long ago.  At the time, Hiruzen would admit to himself at least, he did not like the idea or the young Uchiha picked for the program.  Now… now he could use it to his advantage.

 

Hiruzen often spent hours watching the future of the village with his crystal ball.  He most often focused on the group surrounding young Uzumaki Naruto.  Oh they amused him and lifted his spirits after long hours sending his people to their possible deaths.  Watching had given him plenty of team configurations for the nine children too.

Even though the most likely team out of the bunch was another Ino-Shika-Chou, Hiruzen felt he could argue for just about any mix of the children.  Young Shino’s medical knowledge would go well with Shikamaru’s shadows _or_ Ino’s beginning forays into poisons.  Sakura and Ino would be a pair of great force and intelligence as they got older.  As would Naruto and Sasuke, as their spar matches confirmed.  Young Hinata had proven her sly nature many times which would be interesting to mix with the Akimichi taijutsu methods.  Chouji could even be paired with Sasuke for interesting combinations.

Oh there were so many possibilities.  Even the idea of an all kunoichi team had piqued his interest.  Shikaku’s ‘slip’ of how team formations were done had greatly influenced how the children worked.  They now knew of the nine of them, there would be three teams.  They didn’t know who would be with whom but they were ensuring they could all work together.  It was a fascinating thing to watch.

The children were as tightknit, if not more so, than the small group of sparring partners Minato had gathered.  Uchiha Fugaku, Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi, the older Ino-Shika-Chou trio, and others who had fallen during the Third War.

“You’d be proud of him, Minato, Kushina.”

 

Hiruzen had asked Shikaku to wait with him for an hour after the team assignments.  He had _hoped_ Kakashi would not be _as late_ as he usually was, but the hope was for naught.  It did allow the two to watch as Naruto told his future teammates about his burden, which was heartening to see.  Their plans for a poor sensei were highly amusing.

Hiruzen had had to step in a few times to keep certain shinobi on the active lists.  Tsume and her clan were very protective of the children.  As was Anko, though more because the children had reached out to her after seeing her treated poorly by villagers.  Young Ino had a nose for finding those the villagers ostracized.  Oh the children had amassed quite a powerful group of elders to look to.  Which had made picking their sensei all the harder.

The hokage had to find a balance of those the children rarely interacted with and those who _could and would_ teach them all equally.  Kurenai had not been his first choice for Hinata’s team but he hoped it would help the young girl’s shy personality to have someone she already knew.  His son returning to active duty had been a wonderful coincidence.  Now he could only hope his son would not repeat his father’s mistakes in training young genin.  Kakashi… Hiruzen had Kakashi picked out for Naruto and Sasuke some time ago, due to various reasons, some even the council probably didn’t know.  Though some of his shinobi had probably figured out _some_ of those more obvious reasons.  Adding young Sakura to the team was a risk but as he noticed, she was a quiet sort of leader that could keep the boys on track.

 

The first few weeks after team assignments, Hiruzen could admit that he was frustrated with his chosen sensei.  He couldn’t decide who was failing most of the three.  Kakashi wasn’t even _trying_.  Kurenai was having her students tread water.  And his son!  His own son was repeating his mistakes by focusing on one member of the team over others.

Having called the relevant clan heads to his office, the very old man hoped one of them would have a solution.  It was a mess of personalities but as proven before in the war, they could set aside differences for their village, and children.  Unfortunately they all had ideas on how to “help” the jonin-sensei.

“We do nothing,” Shikaku finally huffed out.  All in the office turned to the genius.

“Shikaku?” Hiruzen waved his hand for the Jonin Commander to continue.

“The kids know this won’t work. I’ve heard Shikamaru mutter about it. They’ll have a plan.”  Opening his eyes, Shikaku took in his fellow clan heads and parents.  “The most likely event is that some of us will be asked to help the kids. Probably Tsume and Shibi for Kurenai since theirs is a tracking team.”  Hiruzen felt a _little_ sorry for Kurenai when he spotted Tsume’s grin.  Poor girl.  “Maru has been muttering about having a two-on-one spar so we should up Ino and Chouji’s clan training.”  The fathers of said children nodded.

“And team seven?” Hiashi asked.

Shikaku smirked.  “Kakashi’s been watching them a bit. He knows they aren’t giving their all. But he’s also not pushing them to. And Sakura _does_ have a temper.”

Tsume burst into laughter.  “Damn right she does.”

Inoichi added the knowledge to his own of the girl.  “Sakura will fight dirty. Anko’s made sure the girls all know how to.”  Hiashi’s grimace was felt more than seen.  “Naruto and Sasuke both have things they need refinement on, they know that. Sakura though, she’s going to run out of things before the boys.”

Shikaku nodded.  “There’s only so much she can learn from books and scrolls.”

“Anyone know if she’s figured out any more seals?” Tsume asked.

“Security seals were her latest project according to Ino,” Inoichi shrugged.  “Haven’t seen Ino working on any herself though.”

 

Getting the notice from Shibi on the ‘intervention’ for Kurenai allowed Hiruzen to watch how things went for Team Seven.  Shikaku would be keeps track of his son’s team, he had no doubt about that.  Team Seven though, they were Hiruzen’s worry.  Kakashi could take the children getting serious in a few different ways.  He hoped it was a good kick in the head for the former ANBU captain to truly train his team of genin.

 

There was something off about the man asking for a simple escort mission.  Something that made Sarutobi think carefully on what team to send on the mission.  There was little information coming from Nami no Kuni right now.  It made him anxious to send a full ANBU team in.  Unfortunately he wouldn’t be able to.  No full team was available.  Nor were there enough cover files to pull a possible team.  Team Gai would have been the best option of the full genin teams, but they were off on a Border Patrol and wouldn’t be back for another three weeks.

Hiruzen wanted a jonin on the mission but that alone would bump it to a B-Rank which the man would not take.  He had tried to convince the man to raise the rank but he ‘couldn’t pay for more.’  That left Hiruzen with the rookie genin teams.  Granted most of those genin were closer to chunin in skill set.  Team Eight would be the worst choice as a tracking team and thus unfit for most protection and escort missions.  Perhaps as they gained more skills but for now they were mainly focused on tracking simulations in their training and it would not be wise to send them out with this faulty information.  That left Team Ten or Team Seven. 

Of the two, Hiruzen could honestly say he felt most comfortable sending Team Seven.  Not only was Kakashi a former ANBU captain, but the children were all chunin skill wise.  Kakashi had set plenty of training exercises based on protection detail as well, since a frontline team would most likely get those and escorts.  To top it off all three of the children were wary of people.  Naruto and Sasuke from the masks people had portrayed to them.  Sakura from training with Inoichi.

He hated to do it to the children.  Hated to send them out with so little information.  Hated that his job made this something he had to do.  Sometimes Hiruzen hated his job.  This was one of those times.  He’d have to make sure to speak to Kakashi about his fears before they left.

“I will have someone collect you when a proper team can be assembled for the mission, Tazuna-san,” he puffed.  Watching the man be led away did nothing to help his nerves.  If those children came back harmed (because he couldn’t let himself think of them not coming back at all) Tazuna would have some trouble finding work.  Not only would he get the clans involved, but Tsubeki Akemi was a force to be reckoned with even as a civilian.  And her connects would make life quite difficult for Tazuna.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Wave is giving me trouble. Mostly the damn bridge battle. I can't get the fight to work the way I want it to. And what I _have_ written is... kinda silly. Totally silly. So I hoped looking at this from another point of view, that wasn't any of the Rookies or their sensei, would help out. In the end I'm still stuck but decided to post this for you guys.
> 
> Interludes were originally going to be between Genin Trials Arc and Chunin Exam Arc but the ending of this was pretty obvious of where it sat in my timeline.
> 
> If you guys have any ideas on Wave, please let me know!

**Author's Note:**

> This might be a little SI-ish since the premise _is_ based on how I reacted to bullies and my first friend and all that, but I'm going to try not to do the "what would I do if I was..." thing. I just _really_ hate the Sakura/Ino of the pre-time skip. 
> 
> P.S. I swear I've been working on Decisions, Territorial, and Game Plan. I swear I have but this


End file.
